Animals

It's Ellie's Birthday. It's hard to believe that she's two already but time does fly. The plan for the day was to meet up at Marwell Zoo and spend a day showing her the animals.

Pistol Pete and Urban-Cub had arrived before us and were enjoying a coffee in the gift shop when we arrived. That seemed like a good way to start the adventure so we joined them. Once suitably watered we headed out into the park.

The first stop was the penguin enclosure. Ellie didn't seem too sure at first and had to be convinced that they were like strange ducks. (She like ducks). She soon settled to the idea and then demanded that we march onwards. We passed various animals in their enclosures, but it was the flamingoes that next caught her eye. She seemed rather intrigued by the whole concept of the top-heavy birds on their spindly legs.

We wandered on through the park. Cheetah, warthogs, leopards all warranted a stop and in the distance we could see the giraffes and various antelopes and zebras. Ellie was intrigued by some of the cats but and how big they were, but not overly fussed by the antelopes or zebras. Well that is until one of the zebras lay down to enjoy a dust bath - she thought that was funny.

We arrived at the meerkat enclosure in plenty of time for their feeding session. One of the staff entered the enclosure and gave an informative talk about the cheeky little animals while being mobbed by them for the food she had with her. They really were every bit as cute as they seem (though apparently can be vicious if threatened).

When feeding time was over we moved on to see the mongoose enclosure before stopping in the children's play area. Ellie headed straight for the slide (unsurprisingly). We stayed there quite a while before moving on to the tropical house.

The tropical house was filled with exotic butterflies, birds, sloths, tortoises, and incorporated a huge aquarium. There were several school parties going round when we were there so it was a bit frantic but there really were some lovely specimens.

We stopped for a drink and a snack. Again there was a small play area with a slide. so as soon as Ellie had finished her ice cream, she headed for the slide while the adults finished their drinks. We moved on. Ellie was absolutely captivated and highly amused by the monkeys and lemurs as we made our way through the various enclosures and runs, then we stopped by the tiger enclosure and agin she was  in awe of the big cat and kept comparing him to Jasper.

Then we looped back round by the giraffes and back down to the penguins. It was getting late in the afternoon and was time to head home.

Back home we had some birthday cake and Ellie spend her presents. We had a made half hour where she played with he new doll - picking her up and putting her in a buggy, then removing her and putting her in a cot. Back and forth she went. The doll must have dizzy at the end of it as we certainly were watching her. Then Ellie came out into the Orangery where we had got a water and sand play station. We hadn't loaded it with sand yet, but even with the water it was going to get messy. She loved it and it is clear that it will be a great success.

Eventually it was time for them to go, but we'll see them again on Sunday for Mothers' Day.