Franklin Park Zoo

The calendar says that it has been spring for 2 weeks now, but we have a serious winter hangover. Celia is recovering from an ear infection (which required another round of amoxicillin). Both Natalia and Andres have had pink eye, and are now dealing with coughs...so far, I have escaped with only a mild cold here and there. I'm convinced that the day everyone else is feeling better is the day I will finally have to take a sick day for myself.

The upshot of this is that not much has been going on the past few weeks. We've continued to support the health care industry with our many visits to the doctor, and we've tried to make sure Andres and Celia are sleeping and eating as much as possible to get them back healthy again. The cold weather has not helped either; it's hard to get motivated to do anything exciting when you have to bundle up two sick kids, strap them in the car, and then wipe runny noses wherever you go.

This past Sunday though we caught a bit of a break. Celia's ear infection had subsided and her nose had cleared. Andres wasn't running a fever and his pink eye was in remission (despite his best attempts to prevent us from putting drops in his eyes). And it was actually a nice day...high 40s, sunny, not too breezy. I had planned to spend a few hours doing taxes but was easily convinced that a Sunday trip would be more fun.

Thanks to Groupon, we now have a 2011 family membership to Zoo New England. Apparently this only includes two zoos--the Stone Zoo and the Franklin Park Zoo. Both are in Massachusetts...so I'm not sure why they had to bill it as covering the whole region. In any event, Natalia read that the Franklin Park Zoo was welcoming both a baby gorilla and an anteater (unrelated), so we decided to pack up and go there. (She also tried to explain the concept of an anteater to Andres. "It's an animal that has a long nose that eats ants!" she said. "Oh," he responded pensively. Then, later, "Mama, are we going to see the big noses?")

I was a bit apprehensive when we arrived--I figured Celia would be fine with all the animals (figuring that if she can deal with her loving brother on a daily basis she can also deal with lions and gorillas), but I was not sure how Andres would react. Last weekend we were outside playing baseball when Sean and Jasmine came running out to greet us...both being trailed by brand new (literally, weeks-old) puppies. So cute, right? Andres was terrified. He ran around trying to avoid them and was clearly not having a good time meeting the new canine additions to the neighborhood. But the more he ran, the more the puppies thought it was a game...so they kept chasing after him. I eventually was able to corral him and raise him high above the snapping gums below. "What's wrong?" I asked, "You love dogs!" (Which is true--from an early age he has been fascinated with dogs, even mid-size ones, and has never seemed afraid of them.) "But daddy," came the reply, "I just don't like it when the puppies try to get me." A couple tears rolled down his cheek.

This was all going through my head when we entered the zoo, about to see animals far larger and more threatening than Snowflake and Chocolate.

First up were the zebras. He loved those, and didn't seem afraid at all. "Daddy where are they eyes?" he asked. "Their eyes are on their head--it's just hard to see them because of the stripes." Good explanation, right? Next question: "Daddy, where are they eyes?"

We passed the wildebeest and ostrich, and then it was onto the tiger and the lion. Very odd to see these animals on a cool spring day with Dorchester in the background, but there they were...very large and behind a lot of glass. Andres took a few pictures with his camera while Celia relaxed in the stroller. She's no fool...why walk around when you can be pushed?

"Can I zoom in with this camera?"

We pushed on to see the two featured animals: the anteater and the baby gorilla. First up, the anteater. I was excited to see Andres' reaction to this guy...would he get that the anteater used his snout to eat, or would it go over his head? We stepped to the exhibit and...nothing. No anteater. Not visible, anyway; we surmised that he was taking a bit of a siesta in a small cove that was hidden from view. Other families were similarly disappointed. The ants, I'm sure, were quite happy.

On to the gorillas. These guys (there were four, I think...2 adults and 2 children) were interesting. We arrived at the exhibit and found a giant adult gorilla sitting down 5 feet from the glass, just staring out at all the assembled parents and kids...it was unclear whether we were observing her or if she was observing us. For this reason I felt more than a twinge of sadness as I looked at her through the glass. Captive animals don't usually bother me too much as long as they are fed well and treated humanely. But to see an animal that clearly, in some way, knew that she was the entertainment made me feel like a voyeur. It was certainly a more uncomfortable experience than seeing any of the other animals on display.

Playing mind games with humans.

The kids--who clearly have no such qualms--seemed to get a kick out of seeing such a large animal up close, and Celia actually seemed a bit afraid when the gorilla stood up and started moving around. We did see the baby gorilla too, although they grow very quickly...so while I had somehow imagined that we would be seeing a 9-pound gorilla with baby rattle in hand, in actuality the baby was about 5 or 6 times that size. And, of course, with no rattle.

After that exhibit the kids delicately started making their case that we should head home ("I'm hungry!" "I don't want to walk!" "I'm tired!" "Whaaah!"), so we snapped a quick family photo and then walked back to the car, saying goodbye to all the animals in turn.

A happy day at the zoo!

(One of these days I will actually post a photo in which I appear with my children or, better yet, where all 4 of us are in a photo together...though rare, they do exist, I assure you!)

In the car on the way home Andres told us that he wanted scrambled eggs for lunch. He must have been in a stupor when he said this though, as he refused to try the scrambled eggs that we ordered for him at Johnny's Luncheonette. (As I write this, we are 0-2 when trying to get Andres to eat anything from Johnny's and the Red Sox are 0-4. At least he keeps good company.) Guess what, though--he LOVED his chocolate milk. Big surprise there. Celia didn't eat much either, and she was only able to enjoy a little bit of her milk before she spilled the entire cup on the floor. Natalia and I ate quite well.

2:15 "I want scrambled eggs."
2:45 "But I don't like scrambled eggs."

The big boy reflects on his day, chocolate milk in hand.

It was late in the afternoon when we got back home--just enough time to play outside for a bit, clean up, take baths, and then take in a story before bed. One child had had enough before her head hit the pillow, though. It had been a long day, and Celia decided it was a good night to turn in early.

Sweet dreams!