Today David and I are taking Cleo to the zoo because it was her birthday yesterday and she spent the day with Zoe and David so today we are spending the day together and this is going to be my little birthday treat to her because she loves animals. We are in the car just now I'm in the passenger seat and Cleo is in the back. We have my phone connected to the cars speaker and we are doing car pool karaoke. Cleo picked one of my playlists to play (except from the "forbidden" one 😉) She picked the one with all my songs from all the playlists mushed together. We are all just singing our hearts out they both have really good singing voices but when I jokingly suggested we start a band they just laughed at me.
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They arrived at the zoo and parked the car.
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We went and showed our tickets and right at the reception was a bunch of fair ground rides. There was one of those big trampoline things and we decided we would all go on it.
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We got put in the harnesses and they raised them up to the right height. We all started bouncing and we did a competition to see who would bounce the highest. Cleo won and then David and I drew because he has the advantage of having longer legs than me and I have the advantage of being lighter than him. Cleo has the advantage of being 40 odd years younger than us. The rest of the time we spent just messing around on them.
When our shots were over we went away and went round the zoo. First we saw the monkey section where all the enclosures with all the different types of monkey are. We found one that looked exactly like Marcel from friends which gave David the heebie jeebies. It was funny to watch him shudder as he remembered all the bugs and stuff that he would have dropped on his shoulders as we just stood around laughing at him. Cleo laughed at him as he walked briskly past the enclosure and on to the chimps. A few enclosures along there was a lemur one where you could walk through the middle with all the lemurs. We went in and one jumped on Cleo's shoulder and she didn't find it bad at all so she started teasing David about being a scaredy cat. He didn't like this and turned to me for help.
David: Baby you don't think I'm a scaredy cat do you?
Jen: Welll.. depends, if it's in the case of spiders and monkeys then yes you are indeed a scaredy cat but in all other aspects you are a big brave boy.
David: Rude but thank you!
We all laughed and the lemur got scared and ran off. We got to the end of the green leafy tunnel where we saw the entrance to the next section which was the big cats bit. We walked through and saw the tigers, lions, black panthers, jaguars and a bunch of different species of wild cat. It was hilarious when we all kept getting a fright whenever they roared. Half of the lions were being lazy and sleeping the whole time but the babies were running around all over the place playfighting with each other.
Next we went to the bit with all the water animals. There's an indoor aquarium bit and an outdoor bit for penguins, sea lions and seals that both have a bit connecting to an inside enclosure. We went and watched feeding time and watched the sea lions doing tricks with the keepers. At one point the sea lion jumped out on the water to catch a fish as one of it's tricks and splashed water over the whole front row which is where we were sat. We got soaked but it was fine because it was worth it and as soon as we went outside the sun dried it anyways. We went to the indoor aquarium and saw seahorses, loads of little fish, axolotls, terrapins, jellyfish, octopi and a bunch of other fish.
We went through the rest of it and saw Koalas, Elephants, Kangaroos, Meercats, prairie dogs, Tasmanian devils, camels, gazelles, giraffes and all the other animals.
Nearer the end there is a petting zoo and you should've seen the look on Cleo's face when she saw it. In all honesty David and I were more enthusiastic about it than some of the little kids were. We stayed there for like an hour just petting all the animals for ages. The sheep were so fuzzy and so were the alpacas. Luckily no animals bit us or spat in our faces. Cleo had a great time and David and I got a bit too carried away but oh well. I may or may not have asked David if we could get a pet sheep and he almost said yes but then remembered that it's unrealistic and we wouldn't be able to manage it. So in the end we concluded that we aren't getting a sheep.
When we were done we went to the gift shop and let Cleo pick anything. She picked a crystal excavation kit and a book about crystals. She also got one of those giant snake things that was about the same size as David. I found a giraffe teddy that was taller than me that reminded me of Melman. I managed to convince David to let me buy it. His exact words were "You can get it if it means you won't go buying a real life sheep off the dark web". So I agreed. I took my giraffe and to the till with all Cleo's stuff and payed then took her outside. We waited for David wondering where he was when he merged from the shop carrying something. When he came closer I could see that it was a life size sheep teddy. When he had seen that I had noticed it he laughed and handed it to me.
David: I know I'm spoiling you, a giraffe and a sheep but I couldn't help it.
Jen: Thank youuuuu. I love my little sheep I shall name it Brenda.
David: So we have Melman the giraffe and Brenda the sheep
Cleo: And sausage the snake
David: Ok and Sausage the snake
We went back to the car with our mass of purchases and stuffed them all in the backseat alongside Cleo. We drove home but on the way David purposely took a wrong turn.
Cleo: Dad where are you going
David: You'll see
David and I looked at each other and smiled excitedly we both knew what was going on but Cleo hadn't a clue. A couple of weeks ago I had a thought and spoke to Zoe about it and she said it was a great idea. So I sorted everything out and we are taking Cleo there now.
After about a 5 minute drive we pulled up at the rescue dog shelter. Cleo obviously knew where we were but was still a bit confused as to what was going on. We all got out the car and walked inside. We took a minute to walk round looking at all the dogs and saying hi then we went and found the person who had met us at the door. She took us to the bit where all the puppies are and that was when we told Cleo.
Jen: So I spoke to you mom a while ago and asked her of she would be ok with us buying you a dog and she said it was a great idea and that she had always wanted to get you one but never knew where to go get one.
David: So we have made an agreement that you can pick any puppy you want from here. Me and Jen are going to pay for most of the expenses for the puppy like vet fees, food, bed, water and food bowls, toys and all that sort of stuff. All you and Zoe have to do is look after it and give it lot's of cuddles and belly rubs
Jen: Just as long as whenever you come to visit you make sure to bring him or her with you so we can play together.
Cleo was almost crying and she couldn't comprehend that she was getting a puppy of her own. She just gave us a huge hug and said thank you and promised to always bring the puppy over when she visits.
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It was a tough decision for her to only pick one but in the end she did. She picked a little golden retriever puppy who is a boy. Because he was so young he didn't have a name so she named him Harvey. The whole way home in the car she sat with him on her knee stroking and cuddling him.
They became best friends immediately and were inseparable after that. Wherever Cleo went Harvey went too.
