A Bronx Birthday

Matt and I both took the day off today to take the boys to the doc (Matthew for his 3 year appointment, Noah for his 5-month). We decided to make the rest of the day a special one for the birthday boy and took Matthew to his first trip to the zoo.
One of the great things about the Bronx Zoo is their Children's Zoo. Matthew kept asking me "What's this?" as I was trying to take his picture at the entrance. That would be his catch phrase for the day.
"I want to be a bird" - yes, my child said that. All because he got to sit in this little nest at the very first exhibit he saw at his very first trip to the zoo.
Matt played tour guide.
And he was also the official "picker-upper" for the day as well.
Matthew had no interest in being a spider. I have taught him well.
He was intrigued with Franklin's shell.
Matt was too.
Matthew was not as amused by this as Matt and I were.
He was amused by King Julian in the Madagascar exhibit.
I can't remember what this exhibit was about - but it's a cute picture, so I couldn't not put in on the blog.
The sea lions weren't very active, but we hung out and waited for them to swim by.
There were neat Lego exhibits throughout the park. Matthew tried to dismantle this one. Thankfully no guards were on duty today.
After lunch we had a little birthday treat - cookies and cream ice cream with rainbow sprinkles. And two spoons.
I forgot Matthew's hat at home and with the sun beating down and Matthew being the sensitive-skinned kid he is, I had to buy him a new one. And if you can believe it, that's the ONLY thing I bought at the zoo today.
Matthew tried to pull off some pieces of this lion too - I don't know when the Lego obsession started!
We took a few rides on the Bug Carousal.
Yes, that's right, The Bug Carousel. Creeped me out, but Matthew enjoyed it.
Then it was a quick stop at the giraffe exhibit (real and fake).
Afterwards, we hit up the Dora & Diego 4D show. We had to hold the glasses on Matthew's tiny head.
Our last exhibit of the day was the monorail through Asia, where we got to see red pandas, tigers and a whole bunch of other species that I can't even remember.
Then we jumped on the shuttle to the parking lot. Matthew made sure we knew where we were going.
Then it was adios Bronx Zoo - see you next time!
Now, Matthew is tucked up in his bed. His first full day as a three-year-old complete. And a good day it was.

Happy birthday my sweet boy! And many more. :-)