Yesterday we had plans to go to the zoo for James' birthday - the nearest one is in Columbia, SC so we got up at 615, had a big breakfast, packed up the wagon and everything we would need and then stepped outside ... where it was pouring. When we looked at the weather on Friday, the forecast was 85 and sunny all day. When we let the dogs out at 615, there were no rain clouds in sight. Apparently everything took a turn for the worse. So we called it our rehearsal run, pushed the zoo to today and went outlet shopping instead. James was not amused but we got milkshakes at lunch so all in all it was a good day for him too. Today we repeated yesterday morning but this time we headed down to Columbia, SC  - the weather man was still saying it was going to be 85 and sunny, and he was right - it was perfect all day long. Coming from Columbus, we were a little skeptical about how it would be. We know how spoiled we are with our home zoo so we weren't expecting too much - but we also know that with James, he wouldn't be able to last a whole day that you really need at the Columbus Zoo and we had no idea if he would even be interested in any of the animals. The Columbia Zoo is considered a family and kids zoo and it really was. It was MUCH smaller than Columbus, but everything was geared towards children. You could feed almost every animal, there were activities scattered everywhere that encouraged kids to participate and everything was close together (no long walks to get anywhere). We walked the whole zoo in less than an hour but we able to make several laps around so we could see James' favorites multiple times. Having a child to experience the zoo with is so much better than when we used to go before, everything is so much more exciting and thrilling. Especially the goats and carousel. I hate goats, so John got to deal with them - but I did end up laughing along... but really, goats are just freaking weird. And who knew that the 5th time riding the carousel would be just as fun as the first?