PROSPECT PARK ZOO

Fun bit of trivia for ya. Did you know that Central Park and Prospect Park were designed by the same park designer guy? Frederick Law Olmstead, landscape architect, handsome old dude... he did Central Park, he did Prospect Park, he did Niagara Falls, the Biltmore Estate, UC Berkeley, other various things... old friend even landscaped the Capitol building in D.C. Hey, don't you love it when you can come to my blog and learn things? Aren't I so handy to have around for all your party trivia and social ice-breaking purposes?

We have a habit of hitting up the zoo on the coldest, rainiest, most seasonally-inappropriate-clothing-required kind of days. It's got to be a skill we can market somehow. Also I have bike helmet hair in all these photos and you'll just have to excuse.

Oh! Not part of the zoo but just next to it is this historical home that we didn't have time for that is open for nerd tours. I want to go I want to gooooo!

Brandon Holbrook: Wears a Fanny Pack.

The PP Zoo is almost an identical layout to the CP Zoo. Which was kind of trippy. Kind of like living in a tract home and going over to play at the neighbor's house.

This is what has stuck with me about the Prospect Park Zoo, are you ready? The peacocks. Mama Peacock, baby peacocks, all over everywhere, and watching them waddle all over the courtyard together sort of sparked this very specific achy feeling in my arms. You know the one, like I needed to snuzzle something. Every kid there was enlisted in the cause of terrorizing the peacocks by chasing them around, and why are kids like that? Clearly nobody minded. Mamas gathering and kiddies dispersing. Circle of life and et cetera. But that's what I always take away from my trips to the zoo, is this overwhelming, dorky love of motherhood. Gross, I know, but it's true. Maybe that's how painters feel when they visit a museum? I don't know. Watching mothers of other species mother their babies... That's where I am right now. I mother. It's what I do. It's not all I do, but it's something I do well, and it's when I feel I'm really tapping into what I'm here to do. And that's not necessarily a value statement, either. It doesn't make me better or worse or different from anybody else and their myriad of talents. Nurturing, accounting, teeth cleaning, pole dancing, let's call the whole thing off! But that's when I feel my best, and that's when I feel the most at use, is when I am mothering. When I can extend my arm out to something cuddly and bring it in close and just let all that loose onto it. Also when I'm writing, or telling a good story. And when I'm getting dressed in the morning. Or organizing things by size and purpose or planning an itinerary. And also when I give really great nursing advice. You know, it is what it is. 

Holy tangent.

Oh but another side note: We are growing out Henry Holbrook's hair, though I am not sure to what end. (Are we going for a Beatles kind of long hair? Or a surfer kind of long hair? Or a "mistake him for a girl" kind of long hair? I feel like we need an end goal or else we're just being mildly neglectful.) It was Brandon's idea and I'm only along for the ride, though I try to take the fun and spontaneity out of it as best I can. I try to ask Huck every now and then what he'd like to do with his hair. You know, "Do you want me to cut it? Is it in your eyes?" So far Huck's seemed unconcerned with any of it, but he's really into the dramatic head tossing he gets to do when his hair gets in his eyes--"Mom, I'm swooshing it," he said to me once--so yes, that's what we're doing, we're growing it out, and in the meantime I spend a lot of time fantasizing about snipping off the rat tail that's going on right now. That, or braiding it.

Is this all over the place or what!? 

Prairie dog exhibit! This one was really fun. Please, the floating face in the left of that photo on the right, please love it as much as I do. That poor guy. I'm sure he had no desire to be in our photo whatsoever. Such a cruel world. One time I had this idea for an app that would run on facial recognition software? You'd sign up and it'd alert you any time your face showed up in someone else's photos, anywhere online, ever. Like, on Instagram or whatever. Can you imagine??? I feel like for all the times I've walked through Times Square over the years, I'm bound to be in at least a thousand random NYC Vacation Facebook albums. And wouldn't that be fascinating to see? And terrifying. Would we really want to see these photos of ourselves? What are the odds we'd be making a pleasant face? (My one flattering angle is really hard to find, ask Brandon Holbrook.) (And it's not even that flattering!) How many photos do you think you'd be picking your nose in or whatever? 

"Mm-hmm, and why don't you tell me how that made you feel?" 

"Well listen, I just don't think Modern Family needed to win another Emmy, is what it comes down to."

Tucked away to one side of the zoo is this whole huge barn, full of all the usual suspects.

As well as THIS:

Yes! 

This cow milking station was clearly not for the grown ups but do you know what? Highlight of my day. Weirdly, milking a cow has been in my top five things I want to do before I die since I was a kid, so, this was a pretty fantastic moment for me. It was just water in those udders, but let me tell you, that is some DEFINITE satisfaction right there. And all those times I hand-expressed because I was too cheap to buy a pump? Finally coming in handy! It's exactly the same mechanism! (Heehee, handy? Stop it.) Luckily it was raining and there was practically nobody there, so I wasn't, like, edging any kids out of the way so I could have a turn or anything. THOUGH I TOTALLY WOULD HAVE IF NEEDED. Dang toddlers. ;) 

Huck. Oh gosh.

Get it, Huck!

Milking a cow is way easier said than done, friends, but Huck was determined.

(And take a minute too to appreciate how strikingly low quality these photos have been. Holla!)

Making nice with some freshly shorn friends.

I wonder how many times I've posted photos of us feeding various animals in this blog. Four or five times at least, easily. But it never gets old though! It's like some freak law of physics!

Anyway, the PP carousel goes so fast it practically gave me whiplash. And I wasn't even on it! The end.

Wait--Look how many posts I've written about zoos over the years!

ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR

Apologies for the weird mood I seem to have found myself in tonight.

Fatty Ratty, over + out.