Lights & Tigers & Goats - Oh My!

We decided we better hit the Cincinnati Zoo's Festival of Lights before 2009 ended and sure are glad we did! It was so much fun, and Josie was really into it this year!  Here are a few photos and videos from the evening, which will always stand out in our memories as a really special night.

Oh - before I get to the Zoo - while Josie was napping, we removed the Christmas tree & decorations.  She came out and almost cried as we explained that Christmas was over. When I told her she got to keep all the presents, she seemed pretty relieved and went about her business. Then we got all bundled up for the zoo and walked to the Westin where we park our car. There were still big wreaths hanging in the lobby and Josie looked at us like we were nuts, shouting "See Mom and Dad, it IS still Christmas!!! Look! See!"  This continued throughout the trip to the Zoo, where we happy to get one last glimpse of holiday cheer before 2009 came to a close.

Josie posing at the top of what she called the "Nutcracker Rhino-saurus" -

Enjoying the lights from the tram -

Yea, so we went to the Children's Zoo section and let Josie get a little too close to a goat that was just her size. And, then it happened...she reached out to pet the goat and it bit the mitten right off of her hand and ran away with it in his mouth.  We were laughing hysterically, Josie was crying, and the goat was munching away! Then, probably because of all the commotion, he spit it out and left the gooey glove in the middle of his pen.  I made Louie crawl in & grab it, because it was the only way to calm down Josie. Luckily, the goat stayed out of his way and everyone survived - including Josie's mitten!  She was still pretty upset (and we were trying really hard to convince her it was hilarious and not scary) so we stuck her glove back on (ewwww) and plopped her down on this camel - which worked! No more tears! And she was distracted enough to forget her glove was wet from goat-slobber.

Further attempts to make Josie smile - 

 

And that's when she realized her mitten was all gooey and threw it on the ground!  But, she kept smiling, which is all that really matters. And she makes a pretty cute turtle.

Big News - these guys didn't scare her this year! She wanted to go up & "high five" all of them! :)

And now on to the best part of the whole night - Josie and the Talking Tigers!!!! I was a little worried they would freak her out, but instead we had to drag her away to let other kids get a turn after a good 15 minutes or so! 

Here are two videos of her with the Talking Tigers.  Oh, to be two again! Enjoy! 

Holly Jolly Josie Videos

I couldn't resist sharing a couple more videos from this holiday season.

This first one is Josie calling her "Grandpa Bop" on the play phone from her new kitchen. My favorite part is how she just walks around going about her business while chatting away - wondering where she learned this?

We were lucky this year to hear Josie's interpretations of many Christmas classics. I happened upon this little scene one day and luckily grabbed my camera mid-Rudolph. Enjoy!