The Zoo, kid-style.

We hit up the Toronto Zoo this week.  Great time of year to go, as the weather is cooler (more active animals) and everyone is back in school (no crowds).  Earlier in the summer, we met good friends at the zoo.  A fantastic outing for young families!  The key to a successful day is travelling at the pace of the slowest member of your group.  In this case, it was the two preschoolers on foot.  Plenty of snacks, hats, water, variety, and freedom to let their imaginations run wild made for a great day!

Kai sported her red rain suit, which, apparently, drove the animals crazy!  At one point she had lynx attempting to dig their way out of their enclosure to get her.

She also spent the day pretending to be a jaguar, walking around on all fours (of course).  She'd randomly curl up in a ball on the ground when passing large animal enclosures, such as the cougars, since "jaguars are afraid of cougars".  We'd then have to go pick her/jaguar up and carry her/jaguar to safety.

Will had a blast running all over the place.  Since we had practically the entire zoo to ourselves, we could let him run free.  He enjoyed darting from one exhibit to the next, laughing hysterically at the otter swimming and howling back at the arctic wolves.

We saw the african elephants one last time, since they're heading to California to an elephant sanctuary next week to escape harsh northern winters.

B directing C.  Too bad he can't see through the map!

I love letting my kids get up close and personal with animals of all forms, but it's getting more and more important to teach them to respect the animal's personal space.  A tricky thing to teach a youngin!  As you can see, B has no fear of animals and animals seem to have no fear of her (a good and a bad thing).

B, way too close to this bird.

And our favourite exhibit of all, the elusive floating arm!