We took the kids to the zoo today. Or maybe we took ourselves to the zoo and the kids came along. Anyway, we all had a great time in San Francisco, and the animals seemed to enjoy it, too. (Or maybe I’m projecting.)

The littlest of us, for some reason, loved the biggest animals. As we know, Dakota has always been fascinated by elephants (and you can’t get much bigger than that). He was absolutely transported when we saw some elephants up close. It was a wonderful thing to see him come face to face with these creatures that seem to mean so much to him.

Both Dakota and D.J. had the rare opportunity to get within inches of a tiger. There was glass between them, thank goodness, but the tiger walked back and forth in front of the viewing area and then lay down right in front of the boys. And yawned. “His teeth are enormous,” D.J. reported. “That’s my favorite tiger.”

We wandered the pathways at the zoo for four hours, and all three boys had good days. Aiden didn’t know he was at the zoo, being only four months old, but he knew he was out in the fresh air and moving around a lot. The only time he cried was when we tried to take his picture next to the giraffes, and the sun was in his eyes.

As for me, I liked the lemurs. They’re near the entrance to the zoo, climbing all over the trees. Sometimes they rest upside down on a branch, and then for no reason they’ll start screeching at each other, as if trying to make a point. Then, just as quickly, they’ll lie down again.

They were my favorites until we saw the meerkats. They were frolicking around the burrow, wrestling playfully with each other, scrambling up and down, and then they stopped. Like that. And stood up and looked at the people who were looking at them. It was a comical staredown, and the meerkats won.