The Zoo

Yesterday we headed to the zoo with our friends Andre, Tonia and their little girl Bella. It was kindof a ghetto zoo, but the kids didn't care as long as there were animals to be seen.

(Be warned, there are a lot of pictures ahead.)

Since this was a smaller zoo they seemed to be a bit more laid back, because you can buy a big bag of animal food on your way in the gate and you are pretty much free to feed it to whatever animals care to eat it. That was pretty cool and we took advantage of it!

Our first feeding stop was at the alligators.

Ella thought they were really cool, but couldn't quite throw the food far enough for them to get.

They all gathered round when we showed up like they knew they were going to be getting food or something.

Look at that mucky green water they are in. Gross. But it's a really cool color for photos!

Alex really wanted to climb right in there and play. Thank goodness for stroller straps.

Our nest stop was to see the biggest black bear I've even seen. He was HUGE!! Now you would think a 1 year old would love to see a giant black bear, but he only had eyes for a little bird up in the tree.

See daddy? That bird over there. What a goof.

Walking along the sidewalk we came upon a section they had painted to show how far various animals can jump. Everyone took a turn testing their jumping skills, even Tonia who is 8 months pregnant.

Ella got a little help from Dad.

Next stop the kangaroos. Who were all laying on the ground doing nothing. Boring kangaroos. So we made our own jangaroo fun:

Look at my cute baby kangaroos!! OK so one is a baby and one is the mommy, but they are still so cute! It took forever to get them both sticking their heads out at the same time.

Onwards to my favorite part of the whole day. We'd read on the internet that they had a platform you could feed the giraffe's from. We were really excited until we got to the giraffe enclosure to find the platform closed off.

(Ella is trying to feed it through the fence.) But this minor inconvenience didn't stop this griaffe from getting her food. Oh no. She was a smart one and had it all figured out. She came over to where her enclosure was closest to the sidewalk and stuck her head right inbetween two of the fence posts so she could be face to face with us. See:

She was eating right out of my hand. Isn't she cute?

Look at that tongue! Ella wanted nothing to do with a giraffe this close but Alex was brave enough to give it a try and I was ready with the video camera so you can all see how cute he was feeding the giraffe.


How cute is that? He's so brave.

But the feeding fun wasn't over yet. They also have a whole petting zoo feeding area full of goats, sheep, pigs, donkeys, rabbits, and even cows! The kids were in animal feeding heaven.

Ella was very particular about which animals could have her food. Here she would only feed the black goat down below, but not the brown one up above. I guess she didn't like his fur color. Who knows.

Alex got in on the action too. Look how red his face is. So hot outside. Yuck.


These 2 guys were literally begging me to take their pictures. They climbed up as high as they could go on the fence and kept banging their hooves until I accommodated them. Then they turned their heads this way and that to be sure I got their good sides. Silly animals.

Towards the end Ella got brave enough to feed this big cow-like animal who's real species has left my mind. Lots of slobber. Such fun.

After a good hand-washing and a lunch break we piled on a little train to see the back pasture of the park. I'm sure they call it something other than a pasture but that's pretty much all it was.

Here's our crowd ready to roll on our back country adventure. While we were waiting Ella insisted that I take her picture. Over and over again. She really got into it.

First she started with the pouty look. You work it girl.

Then the sly look.

She knows she's cute.

Oh does she know.

OK, you're killing me here.

So back to the train ride. Alex was really excited to see the gorillas and various deer they had back there.

You can practically hear him screaming in delight.

Look mom, a zebra!!

We were just about done being outside in the heat after all that. We made one last stop in the giant snake house. Not wanting to be outdone by the kids cuteness, here's one of Anton looking just as cute:

It was sooooooo hot and we were all negligent in bringing drinks for ourselves (the kids were well stocked) so when we finally laid out hands on some water it was chug, chug, chug.

Water is good.

After all that fun we decided to hit up a local Irish pub/steakhouse for a second lunch. This place was really cool. They had over half a million dollar bills stapled up all over the ceiling and walls. It was crazy. You can see some of it behind Anton here:

Not the best picture taking locale since the only light we had was a neon sign behind our table. I'd love to describe the place more but it's one you just have to see for yourself. I got a giant blue cheese burger that I was only able to eat half of. Yum.

We then came home where I promptly pooped out on the bed for a short little refresher nap. While I was sleeping Anton took the kids and got me these beautiful flowers:

I have the best husband in the world.

Today held some geocahing and a bike ride for us. Nothing too exciting. Sorry this was so long! Hope you made it through this far OK. Maybe you should go get some water now too!