Today Ian and I went to the Detroit Zoo. We actually went with a couple of moms and their kids from our Mother’s Group and we had a really good time. We didn’t go for long, only about 2.5 hours, but we still saw a lot of animals. We went through the Butterfly Room and got to see lots of pretty butterflies all flying around. Ian really liked this room and didn’t want to continue on, but I think he was happy we did since we went to the Reptile House next. There we saw turtles and snakes and a bunch of different lizards. They had some creepy turtles there too. Snake-neck Turtles and Matamata Turtles. They look funny and they are just unexpected. I had Ian in his stroller, but once we got into the building, I let him out and he had some fun running to all of the exhibits. He had fun watching all of the other kids as well as checking out each animal. Although when he wanted to leave, he tried and he wasn’t happy when I wouldn’t let him go without me.

We also got to see some capaberas and bald eagles. Not only did we see bald eagles, but they weren’t in a cage. Usually, when zoos have the eagles, they are in some kind of wired mesh so they can’t fly off, but the Detroit Zoo clips their wings so they don’t have to be penned in. I’m not sure if that’s any better for them, but it was kind of neat to be able to see them without having to look through anything.

After the eagles, we were ready to cool off since it was starting to get a little warm, so we made our way to the polar bear exhibit. Let me tell you, they make you work for that room of cold air. The path to the polar bear house is really long and you wind through what looks like an African safari. It’s not all that exciting either; I mean, they do have some animals exhibits along the path, but it was warm and all of the animals were trying to keep cool so they were out of sight. Once we got to the polar bear house, it was awesome. It’s actually and underground building that goes right underneath the bears area, so you get to look up through a glass tunnel and can watch them swim. Two of the three bears were right around the tunnel, so no matter where you were sitting, you could see them. Ian had a blast looking up at them.

By the time we were done with the polar bears, it was getting close to Ian’s nap, so we headed back to the entrance. Like I said, we weren’t there for long, but I think Ian handled it well. Since we’re in the process of moving, he really hasn’t realized what that meant and he did a couple of days ago, so I think this was a good treat for him. He seemed to have fun. If you want to see all of the pictures we took today (not many, but there are some), and I do mean we, Ian helped take some of them, click here. We’re definitely going to go back to the zoo and next time, Jesse says he wants to go with us so he can see the monkey’s too.