Movie Monday: "Reading" Edition (Plus Zoo Pics Bonus)

Recently, John has begun "reading" books to us. It's really adorable. Today he decided to read Farm and Mr. Brown Can Moo to me. I videotaped him to share with you. Hope you enjoy listening to him as much as I do. My favorite is when he reads the page about Mr. Brown sounding like the rain: "dibble dibble dopp."

On Saturday, we used our zoo membership again and Brian, John, Norm and I went to the Dallas Zoo. We started in the Wilds of Africa section because John wanted to see crocodiles or as he says "ocodiles." It was only in the 70s and overcast on Saturday so the animals were all out and about and happy. We saw lots of animals up close and had a great time. We finished our visit with a quick return to the children's zoo to see farm animals and to check out the nature exchange. It was all around a wonderful trip.

Our first stop was the gorillas (on the way to the crocodiles.) Look how close the gorilla was. It looked right at us!The gorilla moved farther away so we went to this lookout point to check it out again.Norm was having a good time. You can't tell, but he's wearing his "See you later, alligator" outfit--inspired by John's repeated requests to go see "ocodiles."The crocodiles! They were right there (other one not pictured). He looked at us!Wow! That thing is big!Next, we checked out the chimpanzees. We could see two from this viewpoint. I didn't catch it on film, but one of the chimpanzees came right in front of the glass to grab some lettuce and oranges. We then got to watch him eat.Next, we moved to another viewpoint that was not behind glass. This chimpanzee decided to come over that way to check us out.Taken from John's point of view, this photo shows the chimpanzee checking us out.The best I could do with getting a photo of John and I watching the chimpanzees.John points out the chimpanzee to me.A lizard that was hanging out right next to us.Next we checked out this cute little guy: a klipspringer. John with the klipspringer after it sprung down the rocks and was closer to us.Next, my favorite exhibit: the African Penguins. These little guys are adorable and very active and social. John liked to reach out and try to touch this one because he kept swimming near us.Norm and me with the African Penguins.On the way to the Children's Zoo, we finally spotted the elusive bobcat. Do you see its ear sticking up as it sleeps on the rocks?During our quick stop in the Children's Zoo, we went to the Nature Exchange. It's a place where you can bring in shells, rocks, pine cones, dried plants, animal bones, fossils, etc. You get points for the items based on what it is and its condition (bonus points for knowing something about the item). You can then get other items from the exchange. For first timers, they have a bin of "free items" that includes some shells, pinecones, rocks and fossils. John chose this pinecone.On our way out we decided to ride the Endangered Animals Carousel. John couldn't decide which of the many cool animals he wanted to ride. He finally chose the nest because I could sit in it with him.

And finally to answer the question that's on the tips of all your tongues: "Has Haley finally met some friends?" Yes, I have! Last week I went to lunch with the daughter of the office manager at my pediatrician's office. Did you follow that? Wendy has a two year old daughter and a six week old daughter. We had a great time at lunch and plan to try to hang out once a week or so. I'm very excited. Then today I went to my first playdate with people in my neighborhood. I discovered a moms group just for people in my development on meetup.com. I had never heard of meetup.com, but it was recommended by the nurse at my pediatrician's office so I decided to check it out. There were lots of moms groups in McKinney, but I chose to try the one for my development first. How nice to meet people right in your own neighborhood! The 'meetup' for today was supposed to be at a park, but it rained so we met at someone's house instead. There were around 9 moms there with children ranging in age from 4 weeks to 10 years. There were two other boys there that were 2 so that was really exciting! I liked the moms I talked to and am going to try to go to two more 'meetups' at parks next week.