Pittsburgh Zoo

We went to the zoo and I renewed our membership. Neil seems to be at the perfect age right now. He really enjoys seeing the animal and takes his time, doesn't want to leave the exhibits because he's really watching the animals.

I just thought this was cute.
The membership comes with a zoo key card, which we didn't use but he wore around.
I also brought a lunchable for him to snack on and he's walking around eating a cracker here.

We were meeting friends but in the morning Neil was awake and we were ready to go so I actually got there early, when the zoo opened (our friends were meeting us about an hour after it opened). That gave Neil and me some time to wander on our own and it was a LOT less crowded. This was a Saturday and the weekends can be really packed, especially when the weather is nice. It was really a nice day, too. Most of these pictures are from before our friends got there with their son, who is about 6 months younger than Neil.

Neil really loved the petting zoo. I want to take him back and let him spend as much time as he wants in there. The hardest part is trying to keep him from walking on poop or getting peed on, ha. And he runs around enough that animals would get in between him and myself. Oh well. I guess what's going to happen is going to happen. He really enjoyed himself though.

Just some notes. I said he's at the perfect age for the zoo and he is with the exception of mobility. And by that, although he is definitely mobile, I ended up carrying him a lot of the time. It's hard to be there just him and me. I did take the stroller but most of the time he refused to be in it, standing up and making a ruckus. He was willing to walk for quite a bit. And when he walked I just pushed the stroller and held his hand- that worked pretty well. But when we met our friends he hit a point that he just wanted to be carried. He's starting to get big for that but I did carry him to some extent, trying every so often to get him in the stroller or walking. I think if Dave and I go together I might try to leave the stroller in the car, although it's still good for naps. Neil did end up falling asleep in the stroller as we were walking out of the zoo. My friends did help me push the stroller but I felt bad because they also had their 1 year old son with us and I didn't want them to feel like they couldn't pay attention to their son. Plus the pushing of the stroller wasn't quite that bad, it was more carrying Neil. He feels like a sack of potatoes at times haha.