It’s a rarity, but the weather cooperated with our plans yesterday. It was supposed to be a crappy day, but it ended up being glorious. And because the weather reports were predicting rain until the last minute, we were one of the relative few families to visit the Bronx Zoo, which made our excursion all the more enjoyable.

The girls are channeling insects in these photos, inspired by the real thing. Sophie loved the birds and the reptiles. Chloe and her friend loved the rodents and sea lions.

Personally, I was partial to the butterflies, because I got some great shots with our recently purchased camera. The lens on that thing is a lot stronger than I realized.

The girls also took a ride on the merry-go-round. I’ve never seen Sophie laugh and smile so much – she was radiant as she rode atop the preying mantis.

It was nice to get away for the afternoon – and the best part about it was the surprising sunshine. It’s so easy to get caught up in the weekend race to go to the supermarket, do the gardening, clean the house, chauffering the kids around town – all the annoying chores – that weeks go by before we realize that we haven’t done anything of substance as a family.

Here’s to spring and fun family moments! And to butterflies, rats, snakes and tigers…