Birthday at the Zoo

This was Ava's second visit to a zoo in her lifetime, the first trip being in Chongqing to visit the panda bears. It was unseasonably warm, with a high near 70 degrees, and most of the animals were quite active. Ava watched an ostrich snap at a chain link fence, hippos not doing much of anything, seals swimming, and penguins wondering what happened to the cold weather.

To celebrate her birthday, we thought it would be appropriate to follow up the zoo excursion with a trip to one of our favorite Chineses restaurants, Hong Kong Cafe', where we have befriended the staff over the years. Everyone was excited to meet Ava, and the manager gave her a tiny bear adorned with Chinese characters. As always, Ava did terrific, ate her meal, and enjoyed watching "the show" around her.

Of course, we also gave her one of her birthday presents, a Parents Magazine recommended toy that features a plastic hammer used to smack little balls into a maze. The hammer will also be eventually be used to smack all kinds of things, we suspect. She hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet, but she is really enjoying playing with the hammer and watching Ma ma and Da da show her how it works. We saved a couple of other gifts for her to open at her Saturday party with aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas.