Baby Gorilla Love

A couple of months ago I started asking Phelan what he wanted to do for his birthday. Last year, his 3rd birthday, he really 'got it' for the first time and he decided he wanted a Monkey Party, so we rented a jumpy and made a banana bread cake. And everyone had a bouncing grand time!

This year both kids (well, the whole household really) had been sick for the couple of months prior to his birthday and as it got closer, Phelan said he wanted to go to the zoo. He had never been to the zoo, I'm not sure he really knew what it was. But it was enough that we decided that a family trip to the SF Zoo would be a great way to celebrate his 4th birthday.

So Daddy and Sissy took the day off work and we headed out. It ended up being the best trip ever! The kids were great. The homemade picnic (can you call it a tailgate in a minivan?) was delightful and we had the most amazing experience with the baby gorilla, Hasani.

The kids were looking through the plexi glass window and Hasani came up and streeetched his little fingers up to barely grip onto the teeny windowsill.

He pulled his head up to peep through the window at the kids. He fell a couple of times but kept coming back to the kids ignoring all the adults gathered around.

The final time he dropped down to the ground, he looked over his shoulder and and waved a 'follow me' gesture to Phelan and Cleo.

Truely a magical moment in my life.