Culture Day is here at last! I’d been waiting for this day to come, ever since I found out about the surprise holiday two days ago. We planned on using the tickets Tamie’s Mom got us and going to the zoo. So long as the weather held out, Tamie’s illness held off, and Layla’s lack of a fever held strong, we’d be good to go.
The weather, luckily, co-operated after blowing and raining the night before. The wind was still fiercely cold but the sun was out and shining strong. Perfect weather for a jacket and sandals.
Tamie seemed much better than Monday night, when she called me at work to tell me she wasn’t feeling well. It’s never good when there’s a phone call to complain. Layla, too, was under the weather. She’s always something on the go, though, so she takes it all in stride. Fortunately, come Culture Day, both were raring to go.
We go to the zoo just after noon, right around the time Layla wanted to lay down and take a nap. I carried her for the first hour, worried she’d fall asleep at every step. It wasn’t until I started taking too long looking at monkeys she wasn’t interested in that she started getting more assertive. By the time we got some food in her for lunch, she was leading Tamie around by the arm, freeing me to take pictures and look at animals. Tamie had a blast running around with Layla too, quite happy to chase and be chased by the little ball of energy. It’s amazing how much of a second wind Layla can get when she gets excited about something. I wish my first wind was that strong.
Over the course of the day, we explored the zoo. A lot of the animals were active – the tiger was pacing hungrily in the window, much to the kids’ delight. One of the lions came over and smiled at Layla before roaring and then leaving to get some sun. Despite all that, the only thing that scared her was the grouse that ran beside her in the bird sanctuary. It’s amazing how fast she can move when motivated by fear. I guess I need to scare her more in the mornings to get her out of bed.
Nearing the end of the day, we headed for the okapi cage, which was closing at 4:30pm. On the way, we found a playground with a big okapi slide. Unsurprisingly, Layla made a mad dash for the playground, claiming that this was the okapi we’d come to see. Other than falling off the zip-line and wanting to go up a ladder she couldn’t climb, she had a great time going up and down the slides. She wanted to try the zip-line by herself, pushing me away when I tried to lift her up to get a good grip, but she couldn’t hold onto the rope so fell to the ground. Her cries were heard throughout the park – I think some of the monkeys even cried back.
We did, eventually, find the okapi — apparently they have 6 okapi there. One of them was named Layla, much to Tamie’s surprise. She was excited to see Layla’s name up on a poster — Layla, not so much. By this point, the poor kid’s second wind was gone, and her third one was fading fast. She was back on my chest, sucking her thumb and trying to sleep. Not even sitting on statues or other playgrounds would wake her up. She got a spurt of energy as we were leaving when she saw a couple more statues, touching the giraffe and riding on the baby elephant. That didn’t last long, though – one trip over a tree stump and she was crying and back in my arms in no time.
Layla seems to love animals, knowing what each one was and what sound they made (from the good coaching by her chinni, no doubt). So long as they are behind glass or cage, she’s quite happy to watch them and even pretends to want to pet them. Statues, too, she’s quite comfortable around – she got mad when I wouldn’t put her on top of the giant elephant statue – the fact it was twice as tall as me didn’t seem like a good enough reason for her.
As we waited for the bus, Layla turned off. She clutched the okapi toy she’d gotten from the gift shop closely, before drifting off. One bus and one train later and we were in Yokohama for dinner. After a quick, if not good, Indian curry dinner, a balloon from a Panasonic booth babe and some ice cream at a gelato shop, we headed home.
御祖母さんありがとうございます！
Thanks, Baba (Layla’s name for her Japanese Grandma), for a great day!
Click the picture for the gallery.