I have been so busy lately working on projects and organization around our house (more on that to come!) that I have been neglecting our blog. We haven't done anything super exciting in the last few weeks anyway--just getting used to the back to school routine. Last Friday, we decided to take a family trip to the zoo. We loaded up Ava's wagon, the camera, and some drinks and off we went! I wanted to use the camera Kevin got me for Christmas last year to try to take some good pictures. There is SO much to learn about this camera and I know I am only taking advantage of about 5% of what it can do but I am determined to find a class to take or watch some tutorials to get the hang of it. I think I ended up taking 256 pictures over the 6 hours that we were there. I was like the animal paparazzi! I did get some pretty decent ones that I wanted to share. So here are a lot of pics plus my occasional commentary. :)
Ava had to take a picture with her juice bottle shaped like a pink ape that she obsessed over. After pink ape ran out of juice, we had to purchase pink T-rex. Those crafty marketers!
The zoo was all decorated for Zoo Boo. It was cool to see it during the day and it worked out well because we don't plan on going to Zoo Boo this year. We went last year and were so disappointed in the event that we said we wouldn't go back. That was surprising because usually everything the zoo does is great.
I asked Ava to go stand by one of the mummies so I could take her picture. She did it willingly but at first didn't look so sure about it...
I guess she decided the mummy was okay but I noticed she was careful not to get too close.
Having fun riding along in her wagon
Our first stop was Primate Canyon. We came at a good time because most of the animals, even the snakes, were really active.
How cute is the gorilla walking around with a back full of hay?!
Next up, the African Veldt, where Ava's favorite animal, the zebra, lives!
Are you scratching your head right now and wondering why I took a picture of a FedEx plane? I think that Ava's favorite part of the zoo is watching the airplanes. I remember when she was just barely starting to talk and my mom and I took her to the zoo. She spent the whole time sitting in her stroller staring at the sky, pointing and saying "plane!" with glee. She could have cared less about the animals. To this day, she spends a lot of time looking at the sky. I'm glad we have a membership to the zoo so that she can go and watch planes! :)
Da bears!
So sweet!
Kevin and I talked about how much the timberwolves remind us of our Patton.
Playing in the geyser at Northwest Passage.
Things were pretty hopping over at the herpetarium.
Yep, I feel like crawling onto my plate when my food tastes really good too.
The hippos were just hanging out. I can't wait to see what their new home is going to look like and I'm sure they are ready for it.
I just think this is a really cool picture.
This penguin stopped to pose for us.
Kevin quickly figured out that the penguins are intrigued by shadows so Ava kept moving around and watching the penguins chase her shadow. After a while, one popped up to the surface and I swear he glared at her. He is clearly saying "Little human, you are driving us crazy! Stop waving your hands around!"
We walked all around the farm and saw the prairie dogs munching on some snacks.
The rooster was very vocal.
And this goat really wanted to be my BFF. It followed me all around the pen. It may have had something to do with the fact that I kept scratching its ears.
We ended our zoo trip in Cat Country. When we walked over to this cat, we noticed that he was looking menacingly at something. We watching him for a few minutes and he was transfixed and never moved or blinked.
So we followed his gaze and saw that he was staring a hole into....a neighboring cat...
who was staring right back at him. It was like standing in the middle of the O.K. corral. You could almost hear the dum, dum, dum music.
Finally, we went to see the tigers. We decided we could spend all day just watching them. They are such beautiful creatures. I took SO many pictures of them. Here are my favorites:
I think they enjoyed posing for me. :) The weather was beautiful, the zoo wasn't crowded, the animals were active, the food was good--it ended up all coming together for a perfect day. I am so glad that we live in the city with the #1 zoo in the country!
