Conner and JD by Rick Conner
"Nana! Papa!" yelled Conner as he greeted them with a big grin in the hallway by his home. They had come to take Conner on an adventure! Conner waited with at least a semblance of patience as Mommy visited a bit with Nana and Papa. At last it was time to wave by-by to Mommy and go for a ride in Nana's new RED car!
Nana, Papa and Conner were all a little tired by the time they got to Nana's house after the ride in the car. But the "sleepies" magically disappeared from Conner as he was happily greeted at the door. "Doggies!" exclaimed Conner, "Birdy!" All the animals seemed as excited to see Conner as he was to see them. Looking around, Conner remembered the fun stuff there was to do at Nana's.
"Yup! There is the ChooChoo" he thought as he wriggled down from Nana's arms. "Tickles!" he exclaimed as the big dog's tail wagged happily in his face. Conner smashed the bright yellow button the "Choo-Choo" and heard "All ABOARD!!... chug, chug-a-chug - Whooo-whoo!" "Oh, this is going to be great fun!" thought Conner as he pushed the yellow button again and again, looking up to see Nana and Papa smiling down at him.
"Hmm.... Birdy is making lots of noises too" thought Conner as he went closer to Birdy's house to investigate... but Birdy was way high in the tree on top of his house and was kind of dancing a bit too so Conner figured he was ok just where he was.
"Hmmm..." thought Conner, "here is that telephone with the big red button in the middle." He pushed the button and the lights and music started as he handed the phone to Papa. "Who is calling?" asked Papa. "Piglet!" shouted Conner. "Oh! Pooh-Bear is there too" Papa told Conner as he talked to Piglet on the phone. "Pooh-Bear says he is having honey from the honey pot and we should have some too!" Papa told Conner as he hung up the phone. Conner grinned and motioned for Papa to "come... come Papa!" as he headed for Nana's Kitchen. Papa picked Conner up and, when Conner opened the cupboard, he and Papa looked and looked and finally found the honey pot! Papa opened the honey pot and Conner stuck two fingers into the sweet, sticky honey. "Nummy", thought Conner as he licked his fingers.
Nana asked Conner if he was hungry. Conner gave Nana a quick shake of his head as if to say "I ain't got time for hungry!" and went off to explore the rest of the house. "Yup, all Nana's baby-dolls are there and... Oh! There is that picture that Papa likes to play a game with". Pointing to the cloth picture on the wall, Conner motioned for "UP" to Papa. Papa picked Conner up so they could get closer to the picture. "I don't know... I think it is kinda rough" said Papa as Conner grinned and wriggled his fingers toward the picture. Papa moved his fingers closer to the picture and pulled them back... "ooOOoo...." Said Papa "should I touch it?".... Conner nodded with glee in his eyes. Papa wiggled his fingers closer to the picture and then jerked them back again...... then he wiggled his fingers at the pictured and rubbed it quickly!... he pulled back his fingers and put them to his lips.... "wibble... whibble... wibble" went Papa as his fingers wiggled on his lips. Then it was Conner's turn!.. Conner started to touch the picture while wiggling his fingers, then pulled back.. then he touched it! "wibble... wibble" his fingers went to his lips and he grinned at Papa "your turn"... it was much fun to watch Papa do it. This was a game Papa and Conner had played since.... Forever!
Nana was right there with the camera to take a picture... Flash! Goes the camera! In spite of all the fun, Conner was really starting to get the sleepies again and Nana got his bath ready. "oh.. yes! Playing in the water is always great fun too" thought Conner. Nana and Conner played in the water with the rubber ducky and the wash cloth and Conner got all clean but the sleepies were really pushing on Conner very hard now so Nana called for Papa to bring the big towel. Conner stood up in the bath and Papa wrapped him in the big towel and carried him into the sunroom. Nana dried Conner off, dressed him in his sleepie clothes and told him that Papa would read him some books! Conner picked out three books and Papa carried him up to the sleepie room.
Papa sat in the chair with Conner in his lap and read to him about "The Cat in the Hat" while Conner listened and drank some of the "juice" that Nana had given him. The sleepies had really caught up with Conner as Papa finished the book and Conner barely realized that Papa had put him in his sleepie bed. "Oh", thought Conner as he gave Papa a pouty look, "I don't want the fun to end"... but, the sleepies got Conner so he drank some more of his juice and started thinking about what fun tomorrow might bring.............
"I hear birdies" thought Conner as the sleepie fog began to lift "Oh! I am at Nana's house!" As the sleepie fog went away a little more, Conner stood up in his bed and said "Nana?....... Nana?" a little louder each time and then there she was at the door, looking very happy to see him! Nana hugged Conner and carried him down the stairs.
"Ah, there is the birdie" thought Conner, "and Nana has cartoons on the T.V. That will help make the sleepie fog go away". Pretty soon Nana said " I wonder where Papa is"? Conner looked around and then pointed outside. They opened the big, glass door and Nana shouted "Papa! Someone is here to see you"! Conner heard Papa's call down from up in Papa's tree room and then there he was coming out of the leaves! Conner was happy to see Papa and jumped into his arms.
After some more cartoons and a little breakfast the doorbell rang! The dogs and the bird made lots of noise too when they heard the doorbell. "Who could be at the door?" thought Conner "It's Baby J.D.! Oh, this will be fun".
After awhile (and a little more breakfast... Nana liked to see Conner eat his breakfast), Nana dressed Conner and said "I think it is time to go to the Zoo"! "Yes!" said Conner. The Zoo is very much fun. Papa loaded up the car and off they went.... Conner and JD and Nana and Papa. At the Zoo, Nana pushed Conner in one stroller while Papa pushed JD in the other one. There were lots of kids at the Zoo.
Soon they were in a big room with Glass walls. In the walls were giant fishies! The fishies didn't look very happy and looked a little scary to Conner. Papa said they were sharks. Conner wasn't very interested in these fishies so Papa took Conner to another glass wall. "Oh! These fishies look happier", thought Conner. They were watching the Dolphins. Conner liked the Dolphins best. They were swimming around together and were fun to watch, not a bit scary.
In awhile, Conner looked around and saw a lot of kids near a rocky place. There was water on the other side of the rocks and strange things in the water. Conner wanted to look closer and Papa pointed out starfish and sponges and stuff but then there was a big roar! Lots of water came roaring into the pool! Conner was a little startled at first but the water didn't come out of the pool so it seemed like it could be great fun. They watched the things in the pool some more but most of them didn't even move. The roaring water was fun though as it happened several times.
Nana and Papa took the boys outside into a courtyard. There were big rocks
out here and some kids where climbing on the rocks. Conner wanted to climb up
the rocks too. Papa helped him a little and Conner was thrilled to be up high
on them. Then, Conner discovered a strange road. It was a metal road but it
made noises when you walked on it. Conner jumped and bounced on the metal road
just like Tigger. The road shook with each bounce and made lots of metal sounds.
"This is fun!" thought Conner.
Soon it was time to find other fun stuff to do at the Zoo and off they went.
Conner spotted a "Whee" and motioned for Papa to "come". Conner and Papa had to climb down some wooden walls to get to the "Whee" but Conner was anxious to climb up and go down the slide. There were lots of kids there and the bouncy bridge was a little crowded but Conner and Papa still had lots of fun with it. Conner was on the bridge and Papa was making it bounce for him. Later, more kids came and it was getting too crowded so Papa put Conner in the stroller to go see more stuff. Nana was pushing JD. JD was having lots of fun watching the path as they went along.
Along one path the Zoo People were busy making a new exhibit for the Mearkats. There was a big dumptruck there and a skid-loader. Conner saw that the back of the truck was lifted high in the air and the loader was taking dirt out of it to put around the exhibit. Conner was fascinated by the work they were doing. Papa and Conner watched the work for a looooong time. The dumptruck was almost empty when Papa and Conner finally caught up with Nana and JD who were waiting in the shade and watching some geese by a lake.
Next on the trip through the Zoo was the tiger pen!... but, there was no tiger. Papa said they were painting in the pen and the tiger wasn't home. Soon they came to a big fence. Papa told Conner to look real good and he might see a Moose laying down in the grass by some trees. Papa and Nana took the boys around the other side of the pen and Papa saw another moose standing up not too far from the fence. Papa said "Look, Conner, there is a Moose!". To Papa and Nana's delight, Conner pointed at the Moose and said "Unk!.. Big Ears!" ("Moose" is a nickname for Conner's Uncle Steve).
Nana said it might be great fun to visit the Zoo Farm so off the group went to see the farm. After a long walk they came to a place with people getting on trailers pulled by a big farm tractor. Papa said "should we get on the trailer to go to the farm?" Conner nodded and said, "YES"! It was fun to ride the trailer to the farm. When they got to the Farm, the petting barn was full of kids. Too full for strollers to get in so they went to visit the horses. One horse was standing right next to the fence. Papa lifted Conner up to pet the horse. The horse was very big but liked to be petted.
Nana and Papa decided to walk back to the rest of the Zoo so off they went pushing the boys in the strollers back to the place where the big farm tractor was loading up more trailers with people to go see the farm. Conner and JD were getting a little tired now so Nana and Papa decided it was time to go home. There would be other days they could go visit the Zoo.