The Munchkin at the Zoo

Given the fact that it's been cooling off (yes fall is already in the air) and I've been a little bummed by the knowledge that a year ago I was in Hawaii and I'm not there now, I definitely needed something to pick me up this week. Unfortunately Travis doesn't get to come home until next week and that left Gideon and I having to find something to do with our beautiful Saturday.

So we went to the Farmer's Market with Nana & Gramps.

And then we went out to lunch and decided on a whim to go to the zoo.

I have to confess that in all the years I've lived in Idaho I've never been to the zoo here. It's not really a very big zoo, but I was pleasantly surprised. They had all the standard exotic animals one would expect to see, and some that were very unexpected.

The monkeys are Nanas favorite.

This is for Grandpa Darryl.

The muchkin LOVED the otters. He was completely enthralled by them. And he got very excited as he watched them swim around and climb on the rocks. It was so cute.

Inspecting the safari tent

There is a monkey at the bottom of the this picture. Unfortunately you can't see him as well as I'd hoped. Sorry. (And no, I'm not talking about my father-in-law.)

This is a Serval kitten. They had a litter of 3 born on August 8. Saturday was the first day they were in public view. Aren't they so cute! They actually look just like a house cat at this stage (as they mature they lose that) but they have the markings of a jungle cat. This little guy was so friendly and completely fearless. He came right up to the glass.

No this is not the serval's mother. This is an Asian snow leopard.

We got there just as it was feeding time for the red panda. Years ago they were thought to be part of the panda family, but now they've discovered that they're really more of a racoon type mammal. Very pretty though. Sorry the picture isn't very good. They do kind of resemble a panda in the face, but that's about as far as the connection goes.

The munchkin did great until the very end when he just got tired of his stroller. But that's okay. As you can see Gramps is a bit of a softie.

We're still loving our baths and our ducky bath tub. It's honestly his favorite part of the day.

Or maybe this is. Naked boys seem to be happy boys. What an exhibitionist.