Lions and Tigers and...Camels and Zebras?

My mother-in-law got B (well, all of us, really) a great gift for her 2nd birthday..a year membership to the Phoenix Zoo! Seriously, it's great. Especially right now, when it's been in the 70s at the end of February. Perfect Zoo weather...the kids and I went last week with my sister-in-law & her girls, while our husbands were in Indiana. (Their grandpa died-he was 91. They went out to the funeral + my husband didn't want me to be alone for that long while I'm uber-pregnant & having contractions a ton= crazy last minute cousin visit! )Adam's visit is another post...the service was a good time of remembering and love, and I'm so proud of my husband. But that's nothing new...so back to the zoo!

 On Adam's first day off, we decided to head to the zoo. It really is a great one-lots of fun stuff, splashparks in the zoo area, a farm with a petting zoo, a couple of playgrounds, not to mention the cool animals and the educational programs and the carousel and the STINGRAYS...and Pax says (today, anyway) that his favorite animal is a Zebra. He is also adamant about the fact that we DIDN'T see any zebras this time...except...we totally did. Even his sister agrees..and I have photographic evidence. Sorry, buddy.

One of the cool things we did this time was ride the camels. Well, they did. I may try it in a few more weeks...you know, when I'm ready to do just about ANYTHING to get this baby out. The kiddos both loved it. I know B looks like she isn't to happy in this picture, and she's not...but it's because a strange man picked her up and put her on the camel. Totally thrilled with the rest of the ride!

We just wandered around the park, seeing rhinos and tigers and lions (the tiger was way more interesting...the lions were lazy :) and monkeys (can you guess which one is the monkey? The funniest part was watching the ape turn and look at Adam and Pax with this look of total boredom, an inch away behind the glass! Even when Pax smiled and waved and laughed at her...no reaction. At all.)

After a bathroom break for the little one (ok, so I needed one too), we headed over to pet the stingrays...really, it's pretty cool. They've removed their stingers, so they're totally harmless, and just swim around and around their saltwater pool (Pax checked-yup, it's saltwater) and you can put your hands in and pet them. Pax LOVES it-I'm pretty sure he'd jump in and swim with them if someone would let him. B gets super excited at first and likes to stick her hand in the water, but freaks out if any of the stingrays actually get within a foot of her hand. Pretty much par for the course :)This isn't actually in Stingray Bay. Sometimes you just need an apple-and-fruit-leather break.

 

After awhile, we walked over to the little farm area. They have a small petting zoo, some farm equipment, a playarea...mostly it's perfectly set up for littles about our kids' ages and a bit older. We played, saw the other animals, then went to pet the goats in the "big barn". This is one of the reasons having my husband come along on things like this is so fantastic...I can just grab my camera, take a step back, and watch how my kiddos interact. Pax, in typical Pax-fashion, grabbed a comb and proceeded to hurry around the yard, combing every.single.goat and wanting to know all their names. B choose to stick with her Daddy...this is the first goat she combed, and you can see her tentativeness. She grew bolder as she went about the yard, petting maybe half as many goats as her brother-but they each got a nice combing and a little sweet chat. Pax, after petting the goats one each, wanted to know things like which goat had peed in a particular spot...I had to admit I didn't know, but that since the goats HAD peed there playing in the dirt like it was a sandbox probably wasn't a great idea. So he gave a couple of his favorite goats a special combing, instead. The best part about the zoo? We can go whenever we want! Like a ski pass, it gives us the freedom to go for an hour or an entire day and it's so totally worth it. Not to mention all the fantastic learning experiences we can get out of it...love it!

and I just really like this picture of a little boy petting his favorite goat, so it's bigger than all the rest.