Adventure!

"Adventure" is currently one of Kathleen's favorite words. We use "adventure" frequently, to convince Kathleen that an otherwise less-than-exciting outing is just what she wanted. The commissary? An adventure! The NEX (Navy Exchange)? An adventure! Schlepping around on a hundred errands when we'd all rather go to the park? An adventure!

However, we took advantage of Friday's "training holiday" to take a more legitimate adventure and visit the Honolulu Zoo. We hadn't been in ages -- the last time we'd gone was in March, I think. We spent the ride into town talking all about the different animals we'd see. By the time we arrived, Kathleen was very excited. Madeline, a little less so.

She rode in the stroller for the beginning of our tour of the zoo, but eventually moved to the Beco. Despite her laidback posture, we think Madeline really enjoyed the morning. Even if she didn't love the animals, she was amazingly well-behaved.

We traipsed all over the zoo. Fortunately for us, the Honolulu Zoo isn't all that big, so Kathleen was fine walking most of the time. She didn't want to sit in the stroller. When she did need a bit of a ride, she elected to sit on Daddy's shoulders.

Kathleen was mesmerized by the animals, particularly by the monkeys.

She was extremely impressed by them once they started moving around. To be honest, I found it pretty impressive, too. Those guys can move! Another highlight was the giant tortoise habitat. The turtles were out, slowly crawling around their exhibit. Of course, the thing that made the turtles exciting for Kathleen (and the preschool class that showed up while we were there) wasn't so much the turtles -- it was that a sprinkler was running to keep the turtles cool in the heat, and the kids got wet, too!

And just in case walking all over the zoo wasn't enough exercise, Kathleen stopped and tested out the playground next to the Keiki Zoo. (Keiki means "child," or in this case, "children's." The Keiki Zoo is the petting zoo.) The playground is set beneath some gorgeous old trees, so it's shady and cool, even in the heat of the day. Kathleen loved it!

Eventually, we called it a day and headed for home. Not that it was a whole day -- it was more like a long morning. Although we felt sure that Kathleen would fall asleep on the car ride home, she stayed awake for some Jamba Juice. That meant we got a whole nap in the afternoon. That, in my opinion, is a perfect adventure!