zoo tripping...

Today Whyboy, J. and I headed out to the Milwaukee County Zoo. Someone at camp had told Whyboy there was a cobra there, and he is in a bit of a snake/reptile phase now. Needless to say he was very excited. I don't really understand the snake fascination. He was dismayed at not finding any garter snakes in our yard this weekend. He came up with the idea of releasing mice into the yard to entice the snakes to take up residence.

Once we got to the zoo, he asked every 5 minutes when we would get to the snakes. It was a nice day, sunny with a bit of a breeze. We wandered through the exhibits. They have a great Big Cat exhibit with cheetahs, and snow leopards. There is a platform that lets you get eye to eye with a giraffe. Whyboy liked seeing these animals, but he was holding out maximum excitement for the reptiles. Seeing the Mongoose and Meerkat peaked his interest (they kill cobras, you know). He could hardly contain himself when we finally entered the exhibit, and right there was a King Cobra. He was mesmerized. The Cobra just was just laying there, but to Whyboy this was as good as it gets...eye to eye with a Cobra. "He's playing dead" he told me. He learned from PBS Nature, that snakes will play dead when they are in danger...this only added to the charm.

In the gift shop he found Cobra and Meerkat figurines. He is planning a Rikki Tikki Tavi celebration. He has been watching Rikki Tikki for weeks. So far the plan is that we will invite our neighbors (the girl is 2 1/2 and loves Whyboy), have cake, and play "Mongoose Games" (Rikki Tikki Tag and Cobra Hide and Seek). Since we couldn't find a mongoose, the meerkat will have to do. The cobra and mongoose (meerkat) will decorate the cake. I am surprised he went for the substitution, he is usually a stickler for authenticity.

I made good progress on the Vanilla socks on the drive to and from the zoo. I really need to get some spinning done today for the Tour de Fleece. Thanks to Seabluewool for the words of encouragement.