Maymont Rocks!

Friday was a federal holiday, so I got to spend the day with Amanda and Alastair. We decided we were way overdue for a trip to Maymont, so after his morning nap, we packed boy and a lunch into the CR-V and headed off.

After a great lunch under a big shady tree (with Boy grabbing at every leaf), we headed over to the Nature Center, where the river otters live. Sadly, they weren't to be seen, but Alastair positively flipped out over the aquariums. He loved seeing the big fish right at eye-level. He loved watching the water, and the Sun reflecting through the water. He loved the turtles, and reached for them. He even loved the catfish, sturgeons, and eels. The owls weren't a big hit, but primarily because they didn't really move.

After the Nature Center, we trucked his butt back down the extremely steep hill and over past the aviary, along the little creek. At this point the Sun was bothering him, so we quickly trudged up to the fox pen. For the first time ever, we saw both foxes. They were relaxing and lounging around like the kitties, which made Beeboo get all giddy (he LOVES the kitties). After he'd watched the foxes and flirted with all the passers-by, we moved on to the deer.

One of the deer was right up at the fence, and we got within a couple of feet of him. Alastair was reaching like crazy, and started to get a bit silly. We then went on to see the bull, and there was another mommy there with her young son. She was feeding the bull grass, and that just delighted Alastair to no end. He was twisting and writhing and kicking like crazy.

THEN we went to see the goats and sheep. Two of the goats came over to check him out. Again: thrilled. Then on to the baby goats, the geese, the hens, bunnies, and pigs, and throughout it all you'd have thought the kid was in heaven. He was laughing and just such a joy to behold.

The whole experience barely lasted 2.5 hours, but he was beat. We'd no more than pulled out of the parking lot before he passed out, and he napped for almost 3 hours.

That was probably the most fun we've ever had as a family of 3.