Zootastic!

My DD's almost 2! She'll be turning TWO this tuesday coming, and instead of a birthday party that I oh so carefully planned...

We decided to give ourselves a break from hectic party arrangements and go to zoo instead. My DD loves animals: from her collection of stuffed ones to our kitties and her Nana's puppy. She can pretty much name a common animal (along with what sound it makes) once she sees it. 

So this morning, myself, hubby, DD and her Nana took a 20 minute trip to the Toronto Zoo.

First stop was Polar Bears! We came just right on feeding and meet the zookeeper time.

This was was keeping cool doing a backstroke...

and I this one was trying to get a tan :p

while this one was being smart and got a good spot right in front of the zookeeper who fed them fish.

Boy was it hot under the sun!!! Thank God, the heat wave broke the day before...

Then, we went through the Indo-Malayan section of the zoo, where I saw animals more familiar to me (being born in the Philippines and all). Lots of icky lizards and humongous snakes here, which I didn't take pictures of because I don't particularly like them.

But these cute little and not-so-little Orangutans are adorable! 

DD liked their habitat because it was a huge jungle gym full of fun stuff and toys.

I had to take a pic of this because DD has a thing for frogs like her Grandpa.

This tiger was fast asleep... while the other ones were hiding behind rocks :(

They had to separate the girl and boy animals this year because they don't want them to mate.

We walked on this really cool boardwalk going up and around a hill with exhibits and habitats around us.

Apparently I have a habitat of my own... Yes, my real first name is Savannah.

Peacocks gone wild! This particular one walked in front of me right after I took this picture of DD and her Nana...

Don't worry I didn't get pecked on.

This elephant was totally showboating... too bad the three huge elephants scared my poor DD away.

My DD was holding on tight to my hubby with her eyes closed :(

But she got into a better mood riding this hippo...

The real thing was enormous!

I really felt like I was in Africa in this heat.

My hubby thought it would be fun to jump over the equator with my DD. Then, what do you know, the rest of the people behind us did the same after.

This is actually a hollow tree on the ground. 

Which animal does not belong? I'm guessing the goose, lol.

Monkey butt!!! LOL!

This poor boy giraffe is separated from his girlfriends :(

We were getting too hot and tired so we hopped on the train that took us through the whole Zoo!

While on the tour, my DD decided she wanted to go to the water park to cool off.

I had to run after her the whole time! I'm counting it as my workout for the day.

She liked marching around...

But mostly running through and around the sprinklers...

Man this place was packed.

Soon we left to get some popsicles and headed to the Kid's Zoo exhibit. It was mostly petting zoo kind of animals in there. No pictures were taken because all four of us were to busy licking Triple Rockets.

I wanted my DD to ride on the Animal Carousel with me...

Too bad she passed out! But even in all her tiredness she won't let go of her little Lion cub souvenir.

There was so much more that we did not see! The stingray exhibit, the aquarium, the euro-asia and australian exhibits... I guess a second trip is in order :)

Thanks Toronto Zoo for the great pre-birthday outing... My DD surely had a blast!!!

In the big bookstore

Yay it's the weekend!!!!

My hubby was taking care of DD in the morning while I was at work today. I had to meet them afterwards because he had a client to meet around 1 pm. He works in a bank branch located in a mall so I figured that I can just stroll around with my DD while he meets with his client for about an hour or so.

When I got there, I contemplated about strolling around because I was famished and exhausted with working so hard in the morning. So I grabbed some lunch from a Sushi place, which I figured will be the best healthy choice in a mall. 

I just picked what ever looked good, I think this was a California type of roll with salmon and avocado wrapped around it. And I love seaweed salad so I got as well. DD and I sat on a bench and I started eating my sushi and salad while she munchies away on animal crackers with a side of Milk (My hubby gave her lunch at home).

After lunch, I really did NOT want to stroll around the mall because of 2 reasons:

1. I have trouble with impulsive shopping, I already did that once this week and I don't want to waste any more money on clothes or accessories I don't need.
2. I was already exhausted working early at 8 am super busy and non stop until 12:30.

Then, I remembered that there is a Chapters Bookstore in the mall with a huge kids section and I thought that DD and I can hang out there!

There was actually a local singer doing a performance as soon as we walked in. Her name is Meaghan Smith and her songs has a cool yet sweet folksy pop sound to it.

Source HERE

I really like her music but I only stayed long enough to listen to a couple of songs. My DD was very antsy and she wanted to get out of her stroller and explore the big bookstore. 

We got to the kids section and she went running straight to were the toys were. I sat on a bench close by while I let her burn off some energy. After a while I asked her if she wants to read some books so we went over to the 3 to 5 years old section. My DD was so ecstatic to see sooo many books and she kept pulling books off the shelves.

I let her choose and pick while I looked at some Dr. Seuss books to add to her collection. She was just in her own world and didn't even acknowledge that I was there. 

I kept showing her books that I picked out but I just got ignored! Eventually, she showed me some books she liked.

We both read them sitting on the floor in the aisle and she thought the Elmo book was hilarious!  It was like a puppet book and you can make Elmo clap. Then, she wanted to move on to the 'In the night garden' book and she kept screaming, "TAH BIBOOHS!! TAH BIBOOHS!" pointing at the Tombliboos (Those 3 cute characters in the show).

After reading different other books for a while, we went into the Baby section. I thought I'd get a gift for friend who is having a baby while I'm there. And without even realizing it... an hour and a few minutes had past! That place was really a great in passing time and my DD had a blast too. She was getting pooped and started sitting on the floor playing quietly with a watering can that she found.

Good thing that my hubby came just in time when she was getting sleepy and I went to the cash to check out. We headed home and my little one passed out immediately the car got out of the parking lot.

It was a busy morning and a great entertaining afternoon but now I'm really glad to be home. 

Happy Weekend!!!!