Legion of Honor and Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo

Sarah had time off school for "ski week" in the week following the blessing and so we took Jane out on a few adventures, especially since the weather was so beautiful.

We first hit the Legion of Honor to see their exhibit "The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde". This was a good exhibit, especially since they let us have our stroller, which Jane was in for part of the time. The exhibit highlighted the aesthetic art movement- or "art for art's sake"- which meant that there were many beautiful pieces of art, furniture, jewelry, home decor, and even statues. It was so fun to look around at and Jane loved looking around as Sarah and I took turns holding her. This was one exhibit that she was ecstatic about- just look at her face below :-) (P.S.- this has already become one of my all time favorite photos of the baby girl)
She was the only baby at the exhibit and was very well behaved so I am hoping that this is a good start towards a love of art and museums :-)

Sarah and I also went to the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo. My friend Mary had told me about it and when I mentioned it to Sarah she said "Palo Alto has a zoo???" Yes, it does have a small one but we were super impressed since it was FREE. They have a children's discovery area with some different types of science like experiments, all of which were a bit old for Jane, but they do have a special infants only area that had this giant cocoon and some other toys.
But Jane absolutely loved the zoo- and we really lucked out as the animals were active. She really was fascinated and loved looking at everything.
We saw the bunny before he got taken away to be the model in an art class, the turtles, fish, snakes, and then the highlights. The beautiful birds, including this super brightly colored one who would not sit still long enough to be captured on film. The raccoons who were playing together in the water
And, the best part was that we were able to get up close and personal with a bobcat!
SO incredible! Jane truly has some kind of magnetism that draws the animals to her as I generally do not have this much success looking at animals when they are awake and close to us, but even on our second zoo trip, Jane is having amazing experiences.
Thanks so much Auntie Sarah for spending some of your week off having adventures with us!!