My mom was on spring break all of last week.  Her highlight of the week was taking Dhara to the zoo for the first time — it’s all my mom talked about!  Dhara and her Ammachi (“Ammana”) love to have fun together — they sing, read, go outside together, take naps together, and have snacks together.  Ammachi is one of Dhara’s most favorite people.

So with the weather warming up, my mom was so excited to take her granddaughter out on an educational + fun excursion.  Along with my little cousins, Hannah + Jeremy, we packed our day bags and headed off to Washington, D.C. for a day at the zoo.  For any of you thinking about driving to the National Zoo, don’t.  Take the metro!  There’s parking at the zoo, but it fills up really, really quick.

I must say taking a 1 year old to the zoo is such an interesting experience.  It was so neat to watch her see in person all the various animals we’ve read to her over and over and over again.  She knows them so well and the sounds they make, so to actually see them in real life was super fascinating to her.

dhara and her ammachi (“ammana”)

dhara very close to an ape

hannah (“hanne chechi”), dhara, jeremy (“jema”)

watching lions

picnicing

wonderfully cool freshly squeezed lemonade + funnel cake

turtle

loves exploring on her own