Sunday and Monday July 22 & 23

Sunday was our first trip to the zoo! Probably the first of many. Indigo's Auntie Tanja met us at the house to join us for her first zoo trip. Auntie Tanja wanted to make sure that Indigo had the appropriate outfit for the zoo and had bought Indigo the most lovely onesie with a photo of one of our zoo cheetahs on it that Tanja had taken. I was also the recipient of a lovely tote bag with the same cheetah photo on it and Tanja had knitted for Indigo a lovely cardigan hoodie with elephant buttons - so special. The four of us took off and Indigo fell asleep in the car seat - she was overdue for a nap. I thought that she might stay asleep from the transition from car seat to stroller but everything was much too exciting for that. Of course we first went to check out the cheetahs which meant stopping to chat with the volunteers on the cheetah exhibit. We could only see one cheetah and Indigo was far too enthralled with watching people and children to really notice. We were looking for Kate, one of the keepers, so Tanja and I went into the back area and just happened to see the two new Grevys zebras! They have been in quarantine since arriving and had just come down to the keeping area from the hospital and are adapting and meeting each other before they go out on exhibit. They looked so tiny compared to our huge boy Nathan who has left to join his harem in Florida. The other keeper told us that Kate was with the wallabies so we went over there and saw her through the fence so she came out to meet the newest little future cheetah volunteer/zoo employee. It was cool because while we were all chatting with Kate, Andrew, another cheetah volunteer, showed up with his new little girl - affectionately called "Ellie" as her mother is an elephant volunteer. So far the first animal to catch Indigo's attention had been one of our scimitar horned oryx because it had come up close enough for her to focus on it. As we walked through Asia trail she also noticed the big sloth bear who was moving around and came to perch right in front of us on a rock. From the Asia trail we went to lunch at the zoo bar which is where the cheetah volunteers meet for happy hour before our monthly meetings. Indigo was very good there. Then we went back to the zoo and back down through Asia trail. This time she saw the asian small clawed otters playing and also locked in on the red pandas. By the time we reached the elephants Indigo had fallen asleep in her stroller which was a good thing because she needed a nap. She did however miss the hippo keeper doing enrichment with the hippo and having it open its massive mouth! David and Tanja did a tour through small mammal house while I sat out in the shade with sleeping Indigo. We also saw the whole Golden Lion Tamarin (GLT) family which is are out on free range for the summer. Guess how many GLTs you are seeing in this photo... it's actually six! The mother, father, the twins from last year and the new twins just born in May. Then we went down to big cats and saw the three Sumatran tiger cubs born last year and their mother. The cubs are now huge but they were so cute and very playful with two stalking and leaping upon one another. After big cats we headed back up the hill at a rapid pace, passed the cheetahs again and this time saw the three Potter boys out in the yard and headed home. It was a great day.

Indigo did pretty well through the night - probably the best so far. She woke up sometime around 3ish or so and I just went into her room, gave her a kiss and hug and then laid down on the bed in her room while she stayed in the crib. She fell back to sleep and I stayed in her room until she woke up in the morning - around 6ish so it was a good night. Daddy went to work early in the morning and she and I played until she took her nap around 10 a.m. She had lunch and we played some more and then she took an afternoon nap from about 3-4:30. Daddy came home just before 6 and we all took a nice walk together with the dogs. During her supper our dear friends Steve & Gabi came over with their girls, Chloe and Isa. Steve & Gabi have just moved back to the States from the Domican Republic where Steve had been stationed with the State Department. We are so excited that they will be living in this area for the next couple of years. Chloe and Isa LOVED the dogs. They were so cute with them and the dogs were very accommodating with all that affection. The girls were also lovely playing with Indigo and after some initial shyness she was very excited to be playing with her toys with the big girls. Chloe spent a lot of time helping her put her shapes into the container. It was a lovely visit and we look forward to spending a lot of time together. We have known Steve & Gabi since college where I knew Stephen from playing polo (horse variety) and then met Gabi when they started dating. We all went to California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and so it's appropriate that Indigo have a Mustang sweatshirt.