The Zoo

On Friday Ella and I started our day off by making a trip to Kohls to get attire for the zoo. After mommy finished shopping :) we looked for a hat for Ella to keep out the sun. With no luck, we headed to Babies R Us where we found two adorable sun hats and baby sunscreen.
After our trip we headed over to Nonnie's house to say Happy Birthday! She said she is now officially a grandmother now that she has her very own carseat for Ella to ride in. Soon enough we were on our way home to wait for Daddy to get home so we could go to the Zoo. At about 11:30 James got home, we had lunch, and then got all packed and ready to go. Mamaw got us a membership the day before for Easter so it was perfect timing!

Ella asleep with the tigers

Ella fell asleep on the way to the zoo. We got there about 12:45 and man was it a Zoo! It was packed more than I have ever seen or remember seeing it packed. We got a preemo parking spot out of sheer luck. Since we are members now we got right in past all the lines. We headed to the forests first since Ella was still asleep and we figured we would be able to see these animals better than she would anyhow. We saw a tiger, two bears, vultures eating mice, gibbons and a bald eagle.

Ella asleep with the bears

Ella and mommy in the Forests

Daddy and Ella in the Forests

Right as we were leaving the forests area she woke up. We headed right over to the Oceans exhibit. My friend Katie had said her daughter that is a few months older than Ella loved the fish. We started at the seals/sea lions where of course, as always, they were putting on a show. It was amazed at how attentive Ella was to the animals. She watched them swim in the water and bark on top of the rocks. She really enjoyed people watching as well. There was so much to take in at the zoo.

Look at the seal sunbathing...almost as cute as Ella!

After waiting in a line to get into the Oceans we headed to the stingrays. Again Ella stood next to the glass and followed the stingrays and big fish as they swam by. She got excited and started kicking her feet and making little noises. She loved the fish best of all. There were tons of them, so colorful and bright, she watched them swim back and forth.

Ella didn't get a chance to touch a shark, but mommy did :) When she is a bigger I will have her do that do. But we did have fun playing "Ella getting eaten by a shark" with all the pictures on the wall.

Next we went through the penguin exhibit. This is the only time she cried. There was a little boy that was going crazy and his mom yelled at him, which startled Ella and made her cry out. As soon as Daddy picked her up though she was just fine. Here she watched the people and the penguins dive in the water. She and Daddy went down by the glass to watch them swim under water. She just looked amazed and so curious. I wish I knew what was going on in her head.

 We also got to see the seals from down below which Ella liked. She would watch them swim across the tank. It is crazy how well she holds herself up and how well she can follow a moving object. Her eyes were peeled the whole time.

Last was the polar bear. We got some cute pictures but I am not sure if she could see him or not. It was time to get changed and eat a bottle in the cool air as well.

After she was done inhaling her bottle we went and saw the walrus. He was huge and hilarious. There was a little baby down by the glass and the walrus looked like he was trying to eat him. Ella got to look for just a minute before I realized she had filled her pants again and needed to be changed ASAP.
We decided to head over to the Desert and the Plains next. I couldn't wait to show Ella the giraffes! In the humid, very humid desert we saw lizards, meer cats, tortoises and lots of snakes. She seemed interested in the tortoise and the meer cats but was so sweaty I had to put her down. We decided to get out of the desert because it was so humid and move on to our last stop of the day.

As we strolled her over to the plains to meet the giraffes Ella fell asleep. Of course she would do that! The one animal I wanted to get pictures of her with! Oh well. I paid a dollar to feed one anyway and just kept her on my shoulder. It is a good thing we are members now, we can come back again and again all summer long!

James and I were still awake, barely, so we headed over to the baboons. There were a couple babies in there too that were so little and adorable. They are some of my favorite because they are so entertaining. They were running around chasing each other and playing tag. They also were preening each other just like we tell Ella we do to her all the time. Our little monkey! We were able to see the zebras through the fence and the elephants from afar. By this time though Ella wasn't the only one that was pooped.

We decided to call it a day and head to the gift shop. After a long wait in the checkout line we got Ella a giraffe statue and a cute blue floppy hat.
It was a great day at the zoo. I can't wait to go back again!