June 10, 2009. Jackson, Ms. Jackson Zoo.

Molly loved the Jackson Zoo. Six months ago, she was not much interested, but this morning she was as excited as I have ever seen her. Most of the time she walked from one animal to the next, refusing to get in the stroller. Pointing with her fingers, exclaiming when the animals moved, laughing out loud with any noise from any creature, she was a child delighted with something new. Christina took the three children to the Jackson Zoo when Molly was one. She enjoyed the day but was not excited. Kate and Mary Frances, who were eleven and seven, were jaded because the National Zoo is so large and beautiful, and the Jackson Zoo is small and old and in the process of getting some much needed renovation. Yesterday we all decided to go to the Zoo this morning, right at nine o'clock when the Zoo is open and where the heat is not so intense. I like the zoo, any zoo, so I suspect that Kate and Mary Frances were humoring me by agreeing to go to the zoo, but we all agreed on the plan to take two cars, so Christina and Molly could come home when Molly was tired.

The day was pleasant, with a light breeze all morning, and almost no one at the Zoo. By the time we were leaving at 11:30, the church buses had arrived with hundreds of children. The Zoo is small, which for us is a good thing. Most of the walkways are shaded, which is also a good thing. But the best part of the trip to the zoo was seeing the zoo through the eyes of an eighteen month old little girl for the first time. All of us saw the animals in a different and more exciting eyes, even Kate and Mary Frances. The trip was a huge success, and after Christina and Molly left at 10:30, Ken and I and Kate and Mary Frances ate an ice cream treat, looked at a few animals, then took a trip on the little train, that runs all around the rest of Jackson Park. We four were the only passengers. Lunch at McAllisters, a local deli, rounded out our day. We four are already looking forward to our next zoo trip, where we will head straight to the alligators and otters, critters we missed this time.