First let me preface this by saying that I’m typing this on a computer that has a non-functional comma key. Given my proclivity for commas this will be a challenge but bear with me.

Today we went to the zoo. It was an unusual April day: sunny and hot. Real hot. 25 degrees hot. Boy what a weird year for weather. The snow packs are at over 150% of normal and they’re talking about bringing in the military to help with sand-bagging. In the mean time those of us who don’t live live in a flood plain are enjoying the warm weather. The skiers are enjoying the continued large bases (still over 300 cm base on the local mountains!).

So we decided to go to the zoo. The one of the big draws to the Greater Vancouver Zoo is the fact that they have a train that goes around the perimeter. The animal selection is actually pretty poor and it certainly doesn’t compare to some place like the San Diego Zoo but it’s not a bad place either. It is a little bit out of the way — some 50 km from Vancouver — but for an occassional trip it’s not too bad.

After negotiating the traffic — don’t come to Vancouver without expecting a complete and utter traffic mess — and a stop at Subway for nourishment (and some gasoline: did you know that gas in Aldergrove is more than 12 ¢/litre cheaper than in the city?) we went to the zoo. Seems like several hundred other people had the same idea as the place was packed.

We worked our way through the zoo with a stop at the train station for some tickets. The next available ride was over two hours later which was a good amout of time. The plan became that we would tour the zoo and then wrap it up with the train ride.

We started with the giraffes and worked our way through the wild cats and other exotics.

And as planned after touring through we went and waited in breathless anticipation for the train…

Excited does not begin to describe the boy. He was just thrilled and literally vibrating. Once we got on the train there was lots of “The train – the train!”.

Here’s a shot of what the train looks like:

All in all it was an excellent day.  Aidan fell asleep on the uneventful ride home and we all relaxed after arriving back at the condo.

I know it’s been just a teaser — hopefully tomorrow we’ll get some videos loaded up to Youtube.

Well, it has happened, we now have new baby crack, or should I say Toddler crack. AS you guys know Aidan loves trains and plays with his train table all the time. We also found that the youtube videos of people’s model trains could keep him transfixed. I had been trying not to get Aidan too interested in the Thomas the Tank Engine stuff because the trains are so expensive. However, when you are trying to get something done and he just wants Trains!!! you do what you have to. He has only been watching the Thomas and Friends for a few days, but this morning he brought me the remotes said “Thomas” and went to sit in his chair facing the tv. Guess what he wanted. :)