Rather than filling our house with tons of gifts that would more than likely find their way to a charity within a year or two, Josh and I decided that it would be more enriching to take Ava somewhere every year for Christmas and/or her birthday. (Besides, between us we have three families and she is likely to be an only child, so I don't see her ever lacking in the toy or clothing department). We did get her the rocking panda (which my dad trumped with a rocking horse that shakes its tail and makes clomping noises... I will post a video of her on it once I learn how to transfer it from Josh's phone), but our real present to her was a trip to the zoo. We decided that Josh's birthday this past weekend would be the perfect excuse for me turn off my cell phone and for us to get away, if only for the day. (We couldn't have chosen a more beautiful weekend...the weather was perfect!). I was concerned that she would be too young to really enjoy it, but thankfully she has inherited my love for being outside in vegetation covered glory and both of our curiosity for new things. She loved it!
And while she foud new animals to intrigue and excite her (elephants, giraffes, monkeys, and meerkats), pandas are still the king of her forest. When she saw them , she pointed at them, then made kissing noises and patted her thigh. Based on recent reports of pandas "greeting" trespassers to their lair, I think it is probably better that they continued with their lounging and bamboo eating, but she was so excited! As you can see, she choose a newer, bigger stuffed panda from the gift shop (we named him Gou Gou-sp? aka "Big Big" after the male panda that was there), then abondoned him when she got home and saw old Panda.
5 comments:
too cute!
Love the pictures of your cute cute family! I'd say beautiful but I think of Josh in more of the cute realm. Although he does have some beauteous artwork...
So thank you for mentioning the pandas as vicious creatures thing b/c that's exactly what I was thinking since I recently read the same articles.
And Ben's mom some of my sis-in-laws and I were talking about going the excursion vs. toys route for Christmas next year. I think it's a great idea!
The trainer at the zoo said that pandas are actually shy by nature and that researchers often spend years looking for pandas in the wild, but only find evidence of them. Either way, they're so cute!
These pictures are great! Looks like it was a wonderful family adventure.
I totally love this idea of no toys, but experiences! My niece is going to visit the San Bernardino museum when I get home :) (because they have a seismograph of course) Just kidding. Wouldn't it be great to coordinate a kid day someplace...Wild Animal Park, Banning Pool, Gilman Ranch museum (kidding), the Childrens' museum in LA... Perhaps in March I can kidnap (not really folks) my niece and we can all go someplace.
There is a children's mueseum in the desert too...
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