Zoo, Zoo, Zoo!

We have done a lot of fun things this Summer, but there is one very favorite location...the ZOO!  We met lots of friends there and enjoyed chatting & playing with them while we observed the animals over several weeks.  K & T seem to never tire of the zoo, and talk about going there often.  K still loves elephants and also now must see the giraffes every time we go.  T's must-do is riding the train, and seeing any kind of bird.  I've combined several different trips into this one post, so buckle in for a long ride! 

Elephant sighting number 1.  They are usually the first thing we see when we arrive at the zoo.

Here's our pal Jen with her sweet family of 2 handsome boys and beautiful little girl.  (I secretly hope that K & H will be best friends or that H & T will get married!)

Giraffe, what an interesting animal.  We enjoy watching them walk around and eat.

Happy K, she's seen her favorites!

The train, the train!  Doesn't T look so happy?!?

Jen and her crew making silly faces.

K thought those silly faces were AWESOME.  She's been making them ever since.
Thanks for a great day Jen!  You are one of our very favorite pals!

On another trip, we met up with my pal Heather, who K adores. 

T loves them all too, especially  Heather's son, C.

Elephant sighting #2!

We watched this big girl drink water for a few minutes, she was messy!

K & Heather

B, Heather's youngest son.

K, Heather's daughter

T quickly found the playground in the children's zoo, he's a great slider.

Goats!

There's that silly face on the train again!

Thanks for a fun day Heather, we loved hanging out with you all!

We met up with Ruby & her two sweeties on another beautiful day.  If you guessed that we saw the elephants first you would have been correct.

These cool pigs were walking around and we got to pet them.

We were excited to see the whole family of giraffes out!

P & K were brave and pet this snake while Ruby carefully watched.

K & P held hands on a lot of our trip while walking around the zoo, it was too cute!

This tortoise was taking a slow stroll around the zoo, we stopped to check him out.

T thought it was really cool to watch him walk.

Of course, we always have fun at the playground.  K asked the one of the zoo teens for help to climb the lilypads...

...T watched K and then tried it all out on his own. That's typical Monkey See, Monkey Do style!

This is Ruby's precious little girl, B.  I could stare at her eyes all day!

Here's Ruby little man, P, he was a trooper walking around the zoo on a newly healed broken foot.

T is always observant, that's one of my favorite things about him!

Yep, train ride!

We ended the day with a picnic lunch enjoying the air-conditioning.

Thank you for a splendid day Ruby, we love meeting up with you!

There's that giraffe family, must be another zoo day!  (We actually skipped the elephants on this trip, of which K gently reminded me of the rest of the day).

On this trip we met up with one of my besties from college named Meghan, and her two adorable kiddos, J & S.

K looking at the giraffes.

The new lion's exhibit was open, but the kids found this tunnel to be even more interesting. 

They had so much fun running and running!

The two pretty girls on the right are K & S petting/brushing goats!

Riding the train is always fun!

See how happy T is?  Riding the train rocks his world!

T was also enthralled with the manatees. 

The girls climbing on a fake gator.

K warmed up to Meg really well.  They had one last hug before we parted for the day.

        Thanks Meg for a terrific day, let's get together again soon!

For our final trip of this blog post, it's only fitting to start with elephant sighting #3.  We watched this guy eat his morning breakfast of a bale of hay.  We were excited to spend the day with Nana, Aunt Shelley, N, A, and S.

Nana can't just walk by a garden without finding a teaching moment.  :) The girls were really interested in seeing the vegetables growing for the animals.

This was a huge owl that was posing for pictures.

On to the lions!  We took a little climbing break.

Baby flamingo! (We were told that it takes a few months for the pink to build up in their skin from their food.  This one was only 2 months old.  So darling!)

What does a lion do to check out his new home?  He paces.  This guy just paced up and down and up and down while we watched him.

These cuties took note and quickly paced/ran around and around.  I think we have a new tradition here.

This guy is always happiest on the......train!

She loves it too!

While we waited for S & A to feed the giraffes, T made up a game with N.  He started charging at her with the stroller that K happened to be sitting in.  They were so funny to watch, T giggling at N, and she teasing him to 'get her'.  All the while K was just trying to buckle herself in and hardly paid attention.

Charge!

See that crazy huge smile on T?  He loved the 'game'.

And we love N!  She is a great cousin, a wonderful example for the kids and a loving niece.

When S & A came back from feeding, they told us that we must try, so...we did.  Just look at that hungry giraffe!

T wasn't quite sure about getting so close to the mama giraffe, so Nana helped him a bit. 

K wanted to try to feed the cracker to the giraffe herself; and the giraffe licked her hand a bit in thanks!

N was a natural.

Thank you Mama, we hoped you enjoyed your cracker snack!

We lucked out and stumbled upon the wallabys who aren't normally on exhibit.  We were so happy to see them!

T found the perfect ride to see the....

monkeys!

Another perfect zoo picnic. 

One final picture of the girl cousins and one gator.

To live so close to such a great zoo is a blessing.  I love taking K & T there and look forward to many, many more trips there.  We are already looking forward to a zoo filled fall!