lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

addison went to the zoo for the first time on tuesday! there were lions and tigers, but no bears. so sad. chris and my mom were both off that day, and we wanted to find something to do. so we decided to go to the zoo. it got warm(er) than it had been the past few days, and it was perfect. it wasn't very crowded since it was a week day. i was scared some school would be there and there would be a ton of crazy little kids running around. but there weren't. yay!

addison really enjoyed it. she didn't really like being in her stroller. she wanted to be held. so chris and i would take her out some and let her look around.

the first animals we saw (aside from the birds pictured above) were the monkeys. they weren't very chatty that day. they were just hanging out. when chris and i went to the zoo a little over a year ago with his parents, the monkeys were going crazy. they were so loud. we could hear them on the other side of the zoo. i guess they were having a heated conversation then.

next were the meerkats. they are so cute! they just stood there so still. addison was quite fascinated.

she loved the meerkats. she didn't want to leave. we ended up stopping there another time, which made her really happy.

they had this little bubble you could get in and be inside the meerkat area. you had to crawl under, like on your hands and knees, to get there. i was going to take addison there, but it was crowded the first time we passed it. but on our way out it was empty. so i crawled under and chris passed addison to me. she loved it!

addison liked standing up and putting her hands on the glass. i think she felt close to the animals that way. and she didn't have to be held or in her stroller. she would just stand and hit her hands against the glass. it was funny.

they had a petting zoo, which i was hesitant to take addison to. i thought the animals were walking around, but they weren't. so we left the stroller outside and we all went in. all of the animals were so cute! there were 2 camels, a donkey, and a bunch of goats. i love the baby goats. they were so cute! they also had an owl and some baby tigers (i think that's what they were).

she would wave at the animals. it was so cute! she waved at that little guy, and he was just looking at her like what are you doing. it was pretty funny.

addison liked looking at the zebras. they were kind of hard to see, though, because they were really far away.

the last animals we saw were the giraffes and the elephants. i'm just amazed by them. they are so huge! i really wish one of the elephants had been in the water. that would have been pretty cool. i think there was a mom and baby giraffe, because one kept following the other.

it was a very successful trip to the zoo. addison did great, and we had a lot of fun. i can't wait to take her back every year, and see her really react to all the animals.