Out and About
In a last burst of summer-time fun, today we went to the zoo.
Punkin starts school on Thursday and I don't work on Mondays, so the whole family piled into the car and we drove north to the San Francisco Zoo. I have taken the kids there before but not since last year, and the Hubby (whom I am going to refer to from now on as "the Italian" - it's much more descriptive!) had not been and it seemed like a fun thing to do. Plus lots of other places that we might have gone are closed on Mondays.
We had a great time. Buddy is difficult in these kinds of situations - he doesn't want to ride in the stroller but he also doesn't want to hold my hand. Plus he runs off. But he enjoyed the animals, and Punkin really enjoyed seeing lots of different creatures.
The San Francisco Zoo is a funny place; some of the habitats have been recently re-designed and are quite modern and much more "natural" than other sections, which are quite old and much less appealing. It was great to get to see a giraffe up close while it was eating (who knew their tongues were that long?) and the new grizzly bear exhibit was fun.
But, as always, I found the primate exhibits quite depressing. The gorillas are in one of the new parts of the zoo, with a big enclosure with lots of presumably engaging environments. But they just looked bored and miserable. The male looked at us for a while and I just found his gaze to be so sad. I think the Italian said it best, "unless the zoo is going to put a bunch of humans in a cage for everyone to look at, it isn't right to do it to the gorillas". Fortunately the chimpanzees weren't visible in their enclosure, for I find them almost as sad as the gorillas.
After the zoo we met up with some dear friends and went to the beach. Going to the beach in Northern California is not what you might think - long sleeves to ward agains the wind and brief forays into the water going only ankle deep - the water is cold! The kids had a great time, it was nice to have a brief visit with friends, and it was a fun way to cap off the day.
In knitting news, I have finished the knitting on the baby blanket for my impending neice and now just need to sew in the few ends and block it. I have started a pair of socks for the Italian, and have made no recent progress on anything else! Pics of the blanket will follow once it is done.
Punkin starts school on Thursday and I don't work on Mondays, so the whole family piled into the car and we drove north to the San Francisco Zoo. I have taken the kids there before but not since last year, and the Hubby (whom I am going to refer to from now on as "the Italian" - it's much more descriptive!) had not been and it seemed like a fun thing to do. Plus lots of other places that we might have gone are closed on Mondays.
We had a great time. Buddy is difficult in these kinds of situations - he doesn't want to ride in the stroller but he also doesn't want to hold my hand. Plus he runs off. But he enjoyed the animals, and Punkin really enjoyed seeing lots of different creatures.
The San Francisco Zoo is a funny place; some of the habitats have been recently re-designed and are quite modern and much more "natural" than other sections, which are quite old and much less appealing. It was great to get to see a giraffe up close while it was eating (who knew their tongues were that long?) and the new grizzly bear exhibit was fun.
But, as always, I found the primate exhibits quite depressing. The gorillas are in one of the new parts of the zoo, with a big enclosure with lots of presumably engaging environments. But they just looked bored and miserable. The male looked at us for a while and I just found his gaze to be so sad. I think the Italian said it best, "unless the zoo is going to put a bunch of humans in a cage for everyone to look at, it isn't right to do it to the gorillas". Fortunately the chimpanzees weren't visible in their enclosure, for I find them almost as sad as the gorillas.
After the zoo we met up with some dear friends and went to the beach. Going to the beach in Northern California is not what you might think - long sleeves to ward agains the wind and brief forays into the water going only ankle deep - the water is cold! The kids had a great time, it was nice to have a brief visit with friends, and it was a fun way to cap off the day.
In knitting news, I have finished the knitting on the baby blanket for my impending neice and now just need to sew in the few ends and block it. I have started a pair of socks for the Italian, and have made no recent progress on anything else! Pics of the blanket will follow once it is done.
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