These beauties and their impressive color were but a mere distraction
to Little A until we could get to the owls.
Little A and I spent most of the early afternoon at the local aviary. We had a blast.
When I told him this morning we were going to the aviary to see the birds he immediately started with the questions. His queries led me to understand he has inexplicably (and overnight) become owl-obsessed. "Are we going to see an owl?" "I want to see an owl and a baby owl." "Where do baby owls come from?" "What color are owls?" "Are the owls there the ones from Aunt Suzi's house?" "Owls say 'hooo hooo' just like a dove. But they are not doves." "I reallllllllly want to hold a baby owl. Baby owl feathers are SO soft!"
We had to run a couple of errands and then finally got to the aviary. We were checking in at the front desk and the college-age guy working was cute with Little A, asking him if he was excited to see the birds. "Yes, I want to see the owls. Do you have owls? Do owls live here?"
The guy assured him that owls do, in fact live there. But, just as our luck would have it, the brand new super impressive extra fun and exciting Owl Forest of all Owl Forests was opening for the first time -- tomorrow. We missed it by one day.
However, he said we could still see the owls from the sidewalk. I was relieved. And Little A's head was about to explode from pure happiness. Then the guy gave us a map of the grounds that had an OWL ON THE COVER and it almost put him over the edge.
We trekked around the aviary, looking at flamingos, eagles bald and golden and some unfortunate looking vultures (poor guys). "Where are the owls???"
Finally, we got to the owls. I lifted A up so he could get a good look and as a large barn owl turned toward him -- I grinned in anticipation of how excited he was going to be -- he mumbled "Oh, there's one."
And then immediately turned his attention, and excitement, towards a pair of ducks that just poo'd on the sidewalk.
.
