Calling all animal lovers...

WARNING: Lots of fabulous pictures.

I actually don't know why peoople write the warnings about having a picture heavy blog. I personally love to look at the pictures. I was just wondering if maybe it is harder to pull up on a slower connection or something. Anyone know?

Last Monday we went to the zoo with other co-op kids and girl scouts. There were so many of us that we couldn't stick together as one group, but we mainly stayed with the girl scout group.

I was adament about seeing the animals this time. Usually when we go to the zoo, the kids only want to play on the playground. But I got to see my animals and I'm all the happier too!

We went into this bird section with all these beautiful birds. Aussie tried so desparately to get one to come on his arm, but the lady who worked there said that with all the school groups coming through the birds were keeping their distance.

They have this really cute area after seeing the birds where you can wash your hands.

Look at this little fella...
I just love girraffes. And we got a show from this one. He was up really close. Most of the time they are WAY in the back and don't come up so close. Also, we got to see this one running in the field. I had never seen that before. I think he was just playing.
God sure did make some beautiful animals.

Just look at this beauty...

I think she was probably hungry. It was about closing time and she was pacing.

There were 2 baby bengal tigers. They were so cute. The picture makes her look bigger than she was.

We went in the petting zoo area. It was smelly but fun. Look at this tiny little one.

This little one came out to greet us.

Of course all the kids love the meerkats.

I love to see the monkeys. I again showcased my ability to speak like one. The monkeys didn't respond. I told some friends how the monkeys at the Cincinnatti zoo answered back. And we concluded that since I am from Ohio that it probably was just a different dialect.

I brought my binoculars with me this time. I had never thought to do that before. The kids had a grand time with them.

Ashley and Abby are best friends and......
monkeys or koala bears.

We also love the mccaws. This is the first animal you see when you come to the zoo, so it was REALLY crowded. We didn't stay long to try to talk to them, not that they would have talked back anyway.

It's always pretty difficult to get a group shot.

Hey Mom- Look how tall I am.

After me dragging them around the entire zoo to SEE the animals, I finally let them play on the playground.

One of their favorite things to do, besides the playground is to get a map of the zoo. Each one has to have their own.

At the end of the day when I was signing up for a membership the kids took a break and sat in one of these strollers at the membership desk. I had found an old map of the zoo hidden in one of the pockets of the rolling bag I brought. They begged me if I could ask if they had any more. They didn't but they did have some in Spanish. So Mason was thrilled to have that one.

It took so long for the guy to help me that he gave me a bag of tokens to be used for the carousel. YEA! (worth $20)