August 5

Today Audrey and I went to the Decatur Zoo with some friends. It's about a 45 minute drive to Decatur, but it was free admission day (and their zoo is way nicer than Springfield's) so it was worth the drive.

Audrey was in her "I'm too cool for the zoo" mode for most of the day. I always expect her to get so excited about seeing the animals because she loves seeing animals in books and on TV. But she always seems unimpressed at the zoo. I think it is partially because she's stuck in her stroller a lot of the time. She kind of zones out when she is in the stroller.

I did get her out of the stroller a few times to see the animals I thought she would really like. But she was acting unusually scared around the animals. There was a rooster, and she loves making rooster sounds, so I thought she would love the rooster. This rooster was saying "cock-a-doodle-do" really loud over and over again. And I think it scared her. She kept saying "Okay" (which is what she says when she gets hurt) in this scared little voice while making a grimacing face. Then I tried to take her into the petting zoo to see the goats. And she was terrified. She wouldn't let me put her down and she was clinging so tightly to me, that I didn't even have to hold her. She was holding on to me completely on her own. So, I guess she's not a big fan of goats. (And tonight, when we ask her about the goats and the rooster at the zoo, she does the same grimacing face and says "okay" in her scared voice...it's kind of adorable).

But we did have a good time! Aside from a few rough moments, I think Audrey had a good day. She loved eating lunch, running around with the other kids, going to the reptile house, going on a train ride, watching the carousel and, of course, eating ice cream!! (which is what she was doing in this picture)