Everything's happening at the zoo

The Ueno zoo was pretty crowded for a Wednesday. M got out of school early, so the kids and I made a short jaunt on the train to Ueno park. We finally got our Suica passes, so I don't have to figure out how much the tickets cost between stations. I just have A LOT of $$ on my pass, pass it over the turnstile and am on my way. I'm getting very good at knowing which stations have elevators and where they are.

Anyway...We saw half of the zoo. We'll check out the other half next time and go on the kiddie rides just outside the entrance (curse them). It was fun, though hectic. We left at 4 since it gets dark early and we wanted to beat the rush. It's the joy and bane of living in the heart of the city.

The panda volunteers gave a cute little speech about how much they grow and how their poop shows if they are healthy or not. They even had a fresh sample of Ling-Ling's poo for us to smell. I pretended to and got an enthusiastic response from the volunteers. We also got some postcards, so I guess it was worth it.

The Asian elephants. The zoo has 4 of them in a very tiny enclosure. I felt claustrophobic for them.

My monkeys pose by their gorillas

The monkeys climb the giant stuffed panda. (do you love the knee socks?)

I don't know if this trip makes me FUN mom. At least we got out of the house and out of our neighborhood.