The Continuing Adventures of the McCollums: 1, 2, 3, 4 to the Zoo!

In the classic Eric Carle children's picture book, 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo, the author allow the reader on a train ride to the zoo, picking up the zoo animals, car by car. Much to Thomas' dismay, we did not take a train ride to the Bronx Zoo, but we did have a great visit there, courtesy of Aunt Laura!

We geared up, loaded up and sunscreened up all four of us and drove an hour to the Bronx Zoo.

Thomas and Dad bolting through the Zoo Center

Leading up to the trip, Thomas was most looking forward to seeing the snakes. A strange attraction that I can only guess stems from the rubber toy snake we place throughout our property and continually pretend to be afraid of. Or maybe it's the silly song I made up that I sing to Thomas before bed called "I'm a Slithering Snake." Either way, no matter what the inspiration was for the fascination with zoo snakes, there were tons of snakes to be seen.

Checking in on two pythons snuggling

But there were also loads of other things that captured Thomas' (and our) attention. We watched some sea lions being fed. Note-the Bronx Zoo is an extraordinary place smack in the middle of the Bronx. They do a fabulous job and it's wonderfully and surprisingly family-friendly. However, if you're looking to see sea lions and water animals to tricks, go to Sea World.

There were animals around every corner. We checked nearly all of them out, both real and statues.

The Bug Carousel was a big hit

We also hitched a ride on the Dino Safari. Our guide, Charles, took us on a great tour of dinosaur country where we saw lots of scary dinosaurs.

Thankfully, Ryan is scheduled for a haircut tomorrow.

Checking out the dinosaur fossil

At the end of our time visiting dinosaurs, we were encouraged to do our own digging for fossils. Thomas and Ryan both got into cleaning off the excess sand rather than dusting for bones. They must get that from Nana Honey!