ZooLights

We discovered an awesome new DC activity.  To date, my favorite annual DC event is the kite festival down on the mall.  The ZooLights are now a very close second.  We passed the zoo on the way home from the airport last Saturday and noticed the lights.  The zoo is less than two miles from Rittenhouse, so we ended up taking Oliver on Sunday after dark to check it out.  The lights were amazing.  The entire zoo is decorated in lights.  Oliver walked the full length of the zoo (after walking a few blocks from our car and chatting up a storm), but he hitched a ride in Daddy’s pack for the walk back.  We all LOVED the lights.  To my surprise, Oliver was also very taken with the costumed panda we met.  He wanted to hug him and talked about him for while.  He also declared himself a little prairie dog popping out of his hole when he got into Daddy’s pack.  At the end of the zoo is a little train that you can take rides on.  It was getting late so we stopped and looked at the train, but did not get in line to ride it.  After leaving the train and making our way back out of the zoo, Oliver started singing a song I did not even know he knew the words to.  He was not saying the words, he was really singing.  This is the first song I have ever heard him sing…”I’ve been working on the rail road all the live long day….” 

I discovered our camera battery was dead when we got there, so these are all from my phone....

He wanted to see each display up close.

All along the walk above us the trees were decorated with lights.  One of my favorites (not shown) was a huge tree with all the branches covered with lights that looked like shooting stars.

He loved this panda.

Oliver wanted to "let Myrtle eat some of that green grass."

He wanted to "touch those lights!"

The prairie dog.  Like many of the displays this one changed to appear like the prairie dog was "popping" out of the hole.  Currently, prairie dogs happen to be one of Oliver's favorite animals--after turtles, of course.

My little prairie dog riding in Daddy's pack, singing his song.  The trees behind them were light displays set to classical music that changed in time with the music...so pretty

The lights stay up for all of December.  I think the ZooLights will be a new holiday tradition for us, and we will probably go back at least once this season!