Oxbow Park and Zoo

Today, I had the day off (yay!), so we decided to do something fun with our morning. We headed to Oxbow Park and Zoo to see the animals and then have a picnic. We first visited Oxbow last fall and Austin had a blast feeding the leaves to the deer. This time, lots more of the animals were awake and around, so Austin got to check out almost all the animals. The new bird and raptor exhibit was open now, too.

First, Austin decided to show the animals how easy it was to escape under the fence...

Next, we checked out the otters in their swimming tank.Pointing out the wolf.

Swinging, Austin's favorite activity.

Studying the bear plaque very intently.
Austin's favorite animal this trip was the badger! He thought it was absolutely hilarious when the badger dug in the dirt. He kept giggling every time the badger picked a new spot and started digging away.Checking out the goat.Trying to feed the goats some grass.Back to feeding the deer leaves.Laughing at the bison rolling in the dirt.

"Love you, Daddy"

He found this tree and declared that he was going to climb the tree like Pooh Bear. He then tried to scale it...unsuccessfully, of course (but really cute).

We then headed to the picnic area just down the road a tiny bit from the zoo area and picked out a nice picnic table to sit at. Austin was a little angel, sitting nicely at the picnic table and eating his lunch. We explored the walking bridge over the river briefly, then headed home for nap time. It was a fun morning! Unfortunately, the afternoon brought us a cranky, oppositional, tantrum throwing toddler who ended up sitting in time-out for the second half of dinner due to repeated offenses including stabbing the table with his fork and throwing peas. Oh well. We have moments of "being 2" and our moments of being a very sweet little toddler saying "Thank you, mommy!" and "I love you mommy!" and giving hugs and kisses (mostly to daddy). We are a bit concerned about how he's going to take it when he is no longer the only center of attention in the house and has to share mommy and daddy's attention with baby #2.