A couple of weekends ago, we took Miranda and Eleanor to the pet store. We have no plans on getting a pet any time soon, but we thought it would be a nice way to show the girls what different animals look like. They’ve seen pictures in some of our books, but we have yet to take them to the zoo. The pet store is also a much easier and quicker outing than a trip to the zoo. As a disclaimer, we didn’t try telling our kids that the pet store was the zoo.
When we got to the pet store, they had a dog and cat adoption thing going on and there were a number of puppies and kittens out in front where people could pet them. Here’s a picture of Agnes showing Eleanor the fourteen-week old kittens.
Once we got inside, we took a look at small mice, fat rats, and a chinchilla. We then made our way over to the bird section where they had a glass-enclosed display of multi-colored parakeets. Miranda seemed fascinated by them.
On the other hand, Eleanor got a little freaked out. Here’s a picture of Eleanor looking at the birds. She was hugging Agnes’ shoulder quite firmly. Our theory is that their sudden movements startle her.
We went into another room with larger birds in cages. Miranda wanted to touch one, but I didn’t know how safe this was, so I moved her away. Eleanor watched from a safe distance and we quickly moved on.
Miranda loved seeing the fish.
Eleanor liked them too.
We moved on to reptiles, and Eleanor seemed to like the toad.
It wasn’t a very long visit to the pet store, but both Agnes and I had tired arms by the time we were done. We didn’t bring in our stroller, and it probably wouldn’t have been much use anyway. Most of the displays are at adult eye-level. Overall, it was a nice trip. I’m sure we’ll have to make it out to the zoo at some point, but for now, the girls seemed pretty happy.