I went five full days without going to the zoo. I needed to spend some quality time on the shady side of the hippo statue …

… and some time on the carousel too!

The ‘keets missed me. I just know it.

Dad wore a backpack full of Zoe today, so I insisted on bringing mine.

Had it been full of fish, the penguins would have really appreciated my visit.

I kept running off today and making Mom and Dad chase me.

This rare Dad sighting shows his determined yet cartoonish look when he sees me running and decides to chase me down.

GOTTA GO BYE.

Today was national elephant day in Thailand, so I got to see my pachyderm friend having a nice drink of water.

No–that doesn’t make sense to me either.

Zoe was full of boogers today, so dad and I went to the zoo ourselves and rode the carousel carouself.

Cookie Monster came too.

I was even holding the camera.

–Riley

I guess nothing much was happening at the zoo today, so I went and painted a couple of mugs.

I love paint!

Painting with one’s dominant hand is considered lazy in certain cultures.

This nice lady was very helpful.

She kept trying to show me how to keep my colors separate and use proper brush strokes.

Yes, yes. Now let’s fill this mug with paint and move along.

Pass the brown, would you? It’ll just save time.

They’ve got lots of different brushes and sponges and things at this place.

I really liked this purple brush even though the nice lady kept saying it “wasn’t for paint.” Yes, yes.

Oooh hey …

That gives me a great idea.

Feet up, Zoe! We’re painting outside the box today.

I let the nice lady paint Zoe a little bit too.

It seemed fair.

Mom helped Zoe apply her stamp of approval. Zoe really seemed to have fun with it.

Ah, kids these days.

Before we came here, we went to Home Depot to buy bricks.

After we came here, we went to Mustard’s Last Stand to get veggie dogs.

It was becoming clear that painting makes me hungry.

Right, so, to sum up …

The Paint-Your-Own Pottery Place* is a nice option when nobody’s giving birth at the zoo and the stores are all out of mugs that someone else already painted.

*AKA the Make Your Own Brown Place.

For reasons I will never understand completely, there was a Teddy Bear Tea Party in Boulder today.

We ate cupcakes …

… we listened to music …

… we chased bubbles …

… and I showed these people how bear-room dancing is done.

Unwilling to dance, Zoe simply impersonated a teddy bear all afternoon.

Go figure!

Mom took Riley shopping for sushi and animal crackers this morning …

… so I stayed at home with Dad. It actually wasn’t too bad.

I was totally reading to him!

Oh, yes. Yes, I was.

Apparently I have a little bit to learn about “book orientation,” but …

… READING!

The turkey does not have a clue about proper attire.

OMG HOW FUNNY IS THAT?

Hold that thought. I need to read a bit more.

After Riley came back from cookies and sushi (she ate seven out of eight pieces!), she showed me the finer points of book maintenance. For example, you shouldn’t scribble in your books like she did.

Got that? Good.

Riley is good to have around for that type of advice.

Riley wouldn’t let dad take her picture tonight …

… so I’m pretending that I’m the only kid in the house.

THIS IS ME BEING THE ONLY KID IN THE HOUSE.

(You really should let Dad take your picture if he’s going through the trouble of waving the camera around.)

(C’mon!)

Right. So. Anyway. Only kid in the house.

I figure I’ll take this opportunity to do two things:

(1) Look super cute.

(2) Play with toys and not worry about someone grabbing them.

Oh, the freedom.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a ball.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the ball’s universal product code.

And this, ladies and gentlemen …

… is how I roll.

We finally got to go to the Butterfly Pavilion again today.

A red-footed tortoise lives there! Some nice lady was asking me questions about tortie.

Ummm …

See …

Hey look! A butterfly!

Phew.

Dad has some really cool studio lights …

… so he left them packed up and he parked Riley and me near a window!

I was showing off all my new finger-mouth sounds …

… but Dad told me to stay still for a minute.

Knock yourself out, big guy.

Riley really wanted to see owls at the zoo today!

Now, keep in mind that there are no owls at the zoo.

Oh, no! No owls!

That’s OK. Mom and dad just pretend that the zoo’s tawny frogmouth bird is an owl. Riley buys it every time.

The tawny frogmouth lives in the zoo’s Bird World building, where I am now. There are birds everywhere. Um–wait–did I step in something?

Curse you, roseate spoonbill!

Even when she was looking at the penguins, Riley was really excited about going to see the tawny frogmouth owl.

Here it is. Hrm. I know owls. Owls are friends of mine. Tawny frogmouth, you’re no owl.

It worked out, though. Riley thought it was an owl, and then we all went to feed the lorikeets.

They were super hungry today.

Riley was super hungry today too. She ate a gigantic bowl of strawberries after lunch.

Usually Riley spends three-quarters of her time in Lorikeet Adventure washing her hands at the magical sinks, but they were out of order today. So she had to focus on the ‘keets.

Mom had five of them on her arms at one time! Sorry–there is no photographic evidence.

They even perched on dad.