Duck, Duck, Zoo!

The Hermann Park ducks are so friendly.  And Finley loves to feed ducks, whether at home or on vacation.  Sadly, for the ducks, we didn't have a single snack to share with them this morning.  We had headed for the zoo as soon as breakfast was finished in order to get there before it got too warm.  Those ducks would have loved some of the banana bread Finley and I had shared.  We will be sure not to forget them the next time we head to Hermann Park.
Finley donned her new Lincoln Park Zoo hat and until I fiddled with it to get a picture of it, she was happy to wear it.  Of course as soon as she realized that she was wearing a hat, she promptly took it off and threw it on the wet and muddy ground.  It got some dirt on it and after a couple more attempts for her to wear it, I gave up and attached it to her stroller.

We had a great morning at the zoo.  We took a different route than normal, which was a nice change.  We got to see the elephant's take a bath, which Finley showed no interest in whatsoever.  We also got to see the otter feeding, which she loved.  I think we have a new favorite animal at the zoo.  The otter was so cute running around like crazy trying to locate his food.  Finley was really taken with him.  The Natural Encounters exhibit is really neat, it actually reminded me of the Lincoln Park Zoo and all their awesome indoor exhibits.  Apparently, it is otter week at the zoo.  We have definitely be made aware of the very playful otters and I am sure we will visit them often.  Especially since they are indoors and it has been in the 90s.  I also braved the reptile house in order to cool off before the long walk home.  A lot of the animals weren't out yet (meerkats, bears, cougar), but the ones that we saw were quite active.  By 11am it had really warmed up, so the walk home was not so pleasant. 

Finley stayed in her stroller the whole time, she is not a morning person.  She usually wakes up late and we play after breakfast while we watch "Toodles" together.  Watch is not really the right word for it, it is more like background noise which prompts Finley to say "too-dals" whenever they say it, sometimes she will join in the hot dog dance, but she still really does not have much interest in television.  Finley was also really chewing on her sippy cup straw, I fear the molars are coming in next.  The final eye tooth is starting to break through, so we have at least crossed that hurdle.  Another milestone!