Clara's 1st Zoo Trip!

The weather has taken a HUGE turn for the better around here, so yesterday I was convinced we needed to go do something new and exciting outside. 

First we drove by my parent's new casa so Bryan could see it. Then we realized it's really close to one of our favorite Woodland's restaurants: Black Walnut. We decided brunch was in order. 

Clara should have received a commission for serenading all of the guests over their meals :) Especially her renditions of Wheels on the Bus and Ring Around the Rosie with emphatic "beep beep beep" and "ashes ashes" parts. There were so many sweet people who complimented her on her pretty singing and clapped for her. I thought it was lovely that everyone was so accommodating of a little girl who wanted to sing while eating some grapes and french toast rather than complain about the noise. She really wasn't very loud, but if you were sitting in the outdoor area you would probably hear her sometimes. Thanks to the attention, the yummy food, and a chance to be outside and sing she was in a very good mood when we left :)

We came home with every intention of the squirt taking a nap while we waited for 2pm when we were going to meet our friends for a trip to the zoo. She hung out in her crib for an hour and half just talking, singing to herself, and playing and never once fell asleep the little stinker! I was a little worried about how a napless Clara would handle the zoo, but we decided to carry on.

She did nap on the way there, which was good!

Thanks to some interesting traffic signs, it took us a little longer to arrive than anticipated, but it was worth the wait. By the time we got there around 4, we found out the Aquarium was going to be closing in 15 minutes, so that was our first stop. Clara loves to look at "fishies."

Ohhhhhhh, turtle 

Zachariah was a big fan of the turtle and fish too.

Then both kiddos checked out the eel. It's a bad picture but you can clearly see their enthusiasm!

Jelly fish

Since we had about 2 hours, we decided to hit up the Children's area and the African animals first in case we didn't have time to do anything else. We figured those would be the most interesting to the 2 littles. 

"mooooo"

A goose and some ducks

Probably Clara's favorite part, stalking goats across the petting zoo area :) She especially liked the ones who were hiding. 

"Hiiiii goat"

2 pregnant mommies, 2 curious toddlers and a goat trying to hide :)

Found a goat under a bench. "Hiiiiii goat"

Brushing a goat is so much fun!

"Pitty, Mommy." She also tried to pull a bow out of a little girl's hair presumably to put in the goat's but we put a stop to that, no worries :) The girl she was, ahem, borrowing from seemed to think it was a good idea too but we left her confusion up to her mommy to deal with while we redirected Clara to a different goat. 

so proud of her herself and so happy

More brushing!

Pretty much thought this was awesome :)

Thank goodness she never tried to use the goat brush to brush her OWN hair. Ewww.

Then checking out the "bawks!!" (chickens) and the "obble" (turkey).

On her way to see another goat, a big kid knocked Clara over and then the petting zoo was ZERO fun anymore, poor baby. So we washed our hands and moved on from there.

Where did the sea otter go?

There he is!

Walls are interesting too, I suppose.

Clara and Zachariah were very excited to find a slide.

Race you!!

Zachariah definitely won that round, haha.

"More! more!" one more time :)

Having a quick snack and a drink to restore the energy.

Sweet kiddos.

I love those bows in her pony tails!

Giraffes

This is not a good picture because I had to take it through glass, but there are a bunch of giraffes, ostriches and a zebra!

Do they say "neigh?" not quite

She looks impressed, huh?

Daddies and their offspring with a giraffe

Tiger "grrrrr"

The tiger is on the left

A bear

Fascinated by the lemurs running and jumping everywhere.

Elephant!

I swear she doesn't look in these pictures, but she was really just mesmerized. I think she was shocked to see so many animals that she loves to read about and point to and make their noises in real life.

Family picture with an elephant

"barroooo"

Elephant!

Hopefully she doesn't get any ideas about doing this with a REAL elephant! 

big dragon

Monkeys! ooo ooo aaah aaah

Officially tired and the zoo is no more fun, even with monkeys.

Sleepy kiddos with their Daddies

It took FOREVER for us to get out of the parking lot, but thankfully Zachariah and Clara had fun talking to each other and watching Curious George. 

We pulled into the parking lot closer to home where our car was, and there was a Cici's Pizza. Sweet Zachariah had been asking for pizza for a good 20 minutes before we got there, so we decided that would be a good place to have dinner.

Unfortunately Clara's tummy didn't agree :-/ But that's an icky story for another day.

It was a busy day but so much fun! I'm glad we got a chance to get some Vitamin D, see friends and meet some "amals" (animals) :)

Have a lovely Sunday!