Hooray-hooray, we are going to the zoo today! Actually, we just got back. It was Mark's first trip to the zoo. Frankly, I understand why kids under 2 get in for free - otherwise it would be a total waste of money. Mark wasn't much interested in the animals. I think it was because most of the animals were a) behind the glass, like the pythons or b) far away, like the elephants or c) sleeping, like the lions. The only ones he really liked and paid attention to for a little while were meerkats (ok, so they were super-cute). He did like the zoo overall - ran around for a while, was interested in trees, flowers, water fountains... In fact, he was so engaged that he forgot to take his nap and started getting very cranky. So after about 2 hours at the zoo we got back to the car and headed home. Mark fell asleep 1 minute into the car ride...
And he stayed asleep for about 25 minutes, until we stopped at the apple orchard. Our plan was to drive up to the store, I would go in and get the apples and then we would continue on our way, without waking up Mark. Sure thing... it didn't work as planned. The babe woke up the second we turned off the road into the parking lot and he was ready for action. So we all got out of the car, grabbed a couple of baskets and wandered off into the orchard to pick some apples. And then we sat in the shade of the huge trees cooling off (it was a very hot day today), swang on a tire swing and tried (unsuccessfully) to climb up the tree. Best of all, after paying for all the apples ($1/lb - a bargain worth driving for), we even bought some fresh apple cider slushie (the best idea ever). And it was tons of fun for Mark since now he drinks out of the straw.
So Mark spent most of the rest of the day running around, climbing up and down the furniture, screaming his head off, saying things like "aisee-yaisee", "woooooow", and "trheeeh" (we don't know what he means, but it sounds very important and fun). 
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