Buffalo trip

Election Day the kids had off of school because parent-teacher conferences were scheduled the same day. So in addition to finding time to vote, I also had to find childcare for the day. For a number of reasons I decided to take a day off work and head to Buffalo Monday night to visit Auntie Alexis, Max and baby Mary Kate, even though we just saw MK and Alexis Saturday for a visit in Syracuse. We had an awesome time staying up way too late Monday night playing with MK's toys and eating lots of awesome food. Tuesday we spent more than five hours at the Buffalo Zoo, which has EVERYTHING--polar bears, giraffes, rhinoceroses, zebras, gorillas, bison (obviously), river otters, and sea lions among many others. Reed's favorite was watching the baby gorilla (really more like a toddler) climb all over and nurse and cuddle with his mama. Theo's favorite was racing a rhino. Beckett's favorite was the playful sea lions, who have a beautiful naturalistic habitat.

Not visible in these "riding the rhino" photos: the very small sign posted near the ceiling of the enclosure which reads "do not climb on the rhino." We saw it after the photos were all taken. Oh, well.

After riding the rhino, we got to see the rhino. We were the only people near the enclosure, and the rhino turned to look at us when we stopped to look at him. Theo started running along the fence, and the rhino started running alongside him. When Theo got to the end of the enclosure, he turned around and ran back the other direction. The rhino turned and ran back alongside Theo. This continued several times, only stopping when Theo stopped. Then Beckett joined in, and he raced the rhino for several runs. It was absolutely breathtaking to watch this 4,000 pound creature, looking like an armored tank with a heartbeat, racing my tiny 40 pound children. It truly looked like the rhino was playing. He would turn around and look over at the kids, as if to say, "ready when you are!"

Alexis flagged down a zookeeper to ask about the rhino-chasing behavior. He said that the running was a show of aggression, not playing, and that if given the chance, the rhino would like to chase them down and kill them. The rhino is known for this behavior and even once injured his foot turning around during a chase sequence in the past. They try to discourage it but have decided not to put up signage to let zoogoers know. It did dampen our excitement a little bit but it was simply astonishing and joyous to watch the kids racing the rhino.