Zoo Day

Well, yes, technically every day is zoo day in a household with two little ones, but today we really did go to the zoo.  Tom, Juliet and I visited the menagerie at the Jardin des Plantes this morning.  Within the large Garden of Plants is a small zoo, just the perfect size for kids (of all ages).  You can walk around the entire area in about an hour and a half, including time for a short rest and a snack.  The menagerie doesn't have many of the typical zoo animals like bears, elephants and giraffes, but it has some unusual animals, several large buildings housing monkeys, big cats, frogs and lizards, and snakes (some huge snakes according to Juliet and Tom, as I did not venture into the snake house), and pleasant surroundings including park benches and picnic tables and plenty of toilettes.

We had taken Juliet to this very same zoo last December; then she was in a stroller and got tired much sooner.  Today she was ebullient, running and skipping to see the animals and even posing for pictures cheerfully.  She did try to ride on Tom's shoulders most of the time, but we talked her into walking on her own about half the time, so "poor old Grandpa" could rest!  Toward the end of the day when she got very tired she took off her little knit cap and put it on her Grandpa's head, then rested her cheek on his head and said "I'm sleeping."  She fell asleep in the taxi on the way home.

Tom described her as "joyous" today, and I can't think of a better description.  When she is in a good mood, she is enchanted and enchanting.  She studied the zoo map to see what animal we were going to see next.  A three-year-old, studying the map!  If the animals had a funny name, Juliet might yell,"Bonjour bouquetin!" and keep yelling until the bouquetin did something.  She picked up leaves and she picked up twigs, and she jumped over puddles and she wanted to walk through puddles but we insisted she couldn't get her shoes dirty.

She was a lot of fun; we had a great time.  Lunch at home with Maman was delicious, and followed by a long nap for Juliet, Grandpa and Grandma.  What will tomorrow bring?