And then we're going to the ZOO...

The zoo! (comments by Naomi and Mark)

Mark: Look at the giant turtles, Naomi!
Naomi: Dad, that's not a turtle. It's a tortise, specifically Geochelone nigra, or common Galapagos giant tortise.


"Mommy's sungasses! See them? Naomi hold? Pweese?"


At church the next day... everyone reverently listening to the speaker... and then, "BIG! Big e'ephant! I see e'ephant! I see e'ephant! my e'ephant! I see e'ephant!"


"Mrrr. Tall g'affe."


"Keiki" is Hawaiian for cake. It was a whole exhibit on different cakes of the world.

stacey: "sigh. Keiki means children."


First words out of Naomi's mouth the next morning, "Goat. I touch goat. I pet it. I pet-ted the goat! I touch-ed the goat!!"


The Hawaiian state bird, a goose: the Nene! (fitting, somehow, that she chose this as her nickname.)


"Oh. wow! Zeeba! Two zeebas!" (with Diamond Head mountain/volcano cone in the background)


So, we're at the zoo, surrounded by hundreds of amazing animals from all over the planet, and Stacey is crouched over, painstakingly taking detailed closeups of... a leaf.


"Rhino! BIG!"


OH MY GOSH ITS A FLOWER!!!!!! (stacey: "sigh.")


Happy mommy with a delighted little girl at the zoo.




"Naomi and Daddy!" "My hold you, daddy."
(She mixes up the pronouns I and My)


What the...?


"Monkey! Swingin!" "What's it doing? Wow! Right in public! How come I'm not allowed to do that!?"




I didn't want to tell Stacey that this was actually not a real giraffe.