Story of Today: Zoo Trip | Greensburg Photographer

My boys and I have lots of adventures. But every once in a while, there is an outing that leaves a lasting impression. I'd like to think that these passionate learning-driven events contribute in some small way to shaping my sons into who they will one day be.

As I've written about before, curiosity is one quality that my husband and I feel compelled to nurture in our children. I believe curious humans are more compassionate and empathetic, more driven to gain knowledge and understanding, and will ultimately be the key to a more harmonious world. Yeah, it's a big idea, but I stand behind it. 

You can read my article about finding themes of curiosity in my images and my life on the Fearless and Framed blog, here.  

Any trip to the zoo has the potential for being great, but certain things help. We went on a day that was too cold to walk outdoors for very long. It was a school day for most kids and not the time of year for field trips. Consequently, we had the place to ourselves! This meant we could linger. We could sit on a bench at the foot of the two story high aquarium tank and eat our lunch. We could read the signs and learn the names of the fish. The boys could spread out a little without mom's death grip on their wrists. 

We must've stayed in front of the penguin habitat for 30 minutes. It was enough to observe their spastic behavior and silly antics, for my boys to have "races" with them back and forth in front of the glass, to see the zookeepers feed them lunch, and to even make a connection through the glass.

And, speaking of connections, this happened:

And this...

It's not every day that we are lucky enough to come face to face (or in this case, face to foot) with nature in the way we experienced Wednesday. Even if they can't fully articulate it, I hope my boys internalized something about the intricacies and design of the natural world on that trip. For me, it cemented one of my core mothering manifestos: You have to MAKE the memories you want to HAVE.

And these, for sure, are the memories I want them to have. And now, I'm off to plan our next adventure....