Wild Flea/Tame Flea

This post is going to be about my visit with Arlington to the zoo. We played hooky on Monday and I took her to the zoo. Well, I played hooky. Arlington is on spring break. We didn't want her to have to go to daycare for a whole week, so Mat and I decided to each take one day this week and take her somewhere fun.


So Monday – Arlington and I went to one of the zoos in Boston. When I was researching zoos, I was surprised to see the low costs of the zoo. When we went to the zoo in San Diego, it was kind of expensive. Same with Florida. But this zoo? Like $10. I should have guessed that it was because it was a city zoo, and not anything overly fancy. Yeah. Should have guessed.......

(Arlington thought this was funny because it was sitting in its food bowl)

But, no problem, we still had a great time. As much fun as we could have as frozen popcicle people. Arlington's stellar mom looked at the weather, and SWORE she saw 60 degree weather for this day, so we dressed warmly, but no coats. Well, degrees Monday: 40. And windy. And not sunny...at....all. As long as we kept moving, we were fine. We were there about 4 hours. We saw every animal and took our time looking around. We got a break from the cold and wind every once in awhile with indoor exhibits. But after those 4 hours, we were ready to get inside for good. We are still wussy about the weather. We took the Florida heat for granted while we lived there, and now after 6 months of cold weather, we are wishing for those warm days.

The zoo wasn't overly packed – mostly mom's and strollers who probably made a spur of the moment decision to come out for the day. Arlington ran excitedly from one exhibit to the other. She loves animals. Everything was exciting – from the birds up to the gorillas.

We saw three funny things while at the zoo:

1)an ostrich tried unsuccessfully for 10 mintues to chew its way out of its cage. It would peck at the ground and then go back to chewing on the fence.
2)A peacock got out of its “habitat” somehow and was walking around bold as brass through the zoo. We took a picture of our rogue friend. We were able to walk right past it and it didn't care in the least.
3)A gorilla was sitting right next to the glass and was very entertaining to Arlington. I took their picture. But the funny part was when we were walking away, two teenage boys were standing at the glass watching the gorillas. The biggest gorilla came over with a ball in his hand, and as hard as he could, threw it at the glass that was between him and the boys. It made an incredible noise. Arlington found this pretty hilarious. I thought it was great watching the boys about fall over when they saw that ball coming at them.


The saddest part about this zoo? No giraffes and no elephants. What kind of zoo doesn't have either of these animals? We think they usually have giraffes, but we were told they don't have elephants. But it was a small zoo and Arlington decided that getting something as big as an elephant into this zoo would be more than this zoo could handle. I kind of have to agree. She was very curious how they get the animals to the zoo – especially after she found that most of them are dangerous. Her question “So....how do they talk these animals into coming to live at the zoo?”
Uh, yeah. Talk them into it. That's how it works.

Arlington rode a small carousel:


She stuck her head in a few holes:


She made silly faces while we had lunch:

We stayed at the zoo until we saw every last animal and did all we could, and it was still only 4 hours after the zoo opened. So, we decided to heat back home and go to the movies and out to dinner – just the two of us. We had a really fun day. Next time – we will take coats. Or go in July.

Arlington made me laugh on the way home from the zoo when she came up with a scenario “if the gorillas escaped”. It did not end well. I will spare you the details.
She tried to tell her dad about her day and called the peacock “pecans”. And instead of “we saw the chicken coop” she said “we saw the chicken poop”. Acutally, we saw both.

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Arlington and I would like to know if any of you out there in blog world have a tamed flea? No? Huh. Here is how this conversation at dinner went.

A small bug flew by while we were eating and I waved it away.
Arlington: was that a bug?
Me: I think so – just a small one
Arlington: like a flea?
Me: sure
Arlington: that must be one of the wild fleas.
Me: what?
Arlington: you know – there are tame fleas that people keep as pets and wild fleas
Me: where did you get an idea like that?
Arlington: people have in their house - tame fleas. I would bet they even have collars for them. Outside the house – those are wild fleas.
Me: do you know someone with a tame flea?
Arlington: no, but I am sure there are.
Me: (trying not to look at her too strangely) right.

So after 12 hours of just Arlington and I - and not having one single moment the whole time of her sitting quietly and not talking - we arrived back home. She had picked out a stuffed wolf as her souvenier and she and her new wolf (named Fred or Bud, she can't decide) went to sleep happily Monday night. I am glad we had this day together. Arlington is a blast to hang out with. She is a whirlwind of chatter, and stories, and thoughts. Her mind is not ever off. It is hysterical.

Mat is planning on a day with Arlington tomorrow. It looks like the best weather day. They are going to 6 Flags - she is so excited.

So that is “going to the zoo with the Pletchers”. I hope you enjoyed it. I won't be posting again until Sunday because Saturday we will be in New York City for the day.

PS - the little ones are doing fine. Finley is sick again. She has a bad cold and cough. Plus she is getting some molars, which makes her a really miserable human being right now. She is lucky she is cute because her whining is driving us crazy.

Also, as you can see from this picture:

We haven't gotten very far on the play yard. It is taking forever and on Monday and Tuesday it rained, so we didn't get to work on it at all. Arlington keeps asking when it will be done, and I reply "it will be done hopefully before summer is over".