annual zoo birthday trip

Beanie's big birthday zoo trip day!  A day we (at least Eric and I) look forward to, and this makes our 3rd year!  This year (as it will about half of the time) her birthday fell on Memorial day weekend, so knowing it'd be packed, we headed for the zoo at 9 when gates opened.  Grandma Young surprised Beanie with doughnuts at home and followed us up there, and we had a warm day, just slightly overcast, perfect for the zoo!

  After visiting the polar bears and finding them still sleeping (LITERALLY) we headed towards the carousel.  The flamingos were out and prancing around though, so we stopped to watch them for a few minutes. We watched the weirdest exchange though, one of the zoo keepers snuck in and took one of their eggs from the exhibit!  When they came back over, they were looking for it and certainly didn't "miss" what happened.  We kind of felt badly for them!

  At the carousel, we all took turns riding with Amara and Grandma got some time with Cora when she woke up.  I'm not sure if we rode it 3 or 4 times, but it was field trip day, so it was very full of kids--she loved to watch.

  One of the trips Amara wanted to ride on the bench.  This was a surprising first for us, never even asked about it before!

We headed off to see the manatee after that, then on to the monkeys--with each passing moment though, the zoo was growing more and more crowded and we knew we were getting close to go time. 

  Waiting outside to see the Lorakeets, this was the face I got when I asked her to look at me--HOPING to get a picture of both girls at the zoo.  Silly mom.  I have to say, this was right before we left, having clearly pushed past our "fun" window for the zoo.  We know we have about an hour and a half, but we were all the way in Australia, 20 minutes from the car, and overstretched our welcome, so to speak.

A trip to the zoo is never complete without the gift shop.  A bucked hat for Cora (that in this picture looks HUGE on her, but in reality fits her perfectly) and a flamingo for Amara--oh, and the tiny blue tiger from Grandma :)

We had a great trip and visit, no crazy sunburns or mishaps (knock on wood) and already looking forward to our next trip!