Zoo #2

Ok, so several lessons learned from this zoo trip:

#1 Never, NEVER go to the zoo on a holiday/ national day off.

#2 Never, NEVER go to the zoo on a holiday with perfect weather.

#3 Never, NEVER stop in the gift shop on the way out of the zoo...even to "just peek" at the cute giraffe that caught Amara's eye...

We decided to buy a zoo membership this year to see how it would go...how Amara liked it, how long it took to get there...how busy would it be during the times we'd go...etc.

The first time we took Amara was her birthday. I think we went at around 1 pm, after getting up from her nap, and it was great. A tad warm maybe, but not busy at all...leisurely even...not so much this time.

This time, we went on July 3rd, thinking maybe everyone would be getting ready for the 4th and not (surely) going to the zoo, right? WRONG. It took us over an hour to get to the zoo, close to an hour and a half till we actually got IN the zoo. Apparently in addition to the holiday, the zoo was running a promotion for all military (and their families) to get in free...great in theory, not so great for an impatient 13 month old.

Good news: we headed in a different direction this time and got to see some gorillas, monkeys (very close) and a few other African guys that she was VERY interested in. All-in-all, it was a fun (but exhausting) trip, and with many lessons learned.

Sidebar--see the cute, GIANT, giraffe? It was by the door at a gift shop on the way out--she reached for it, so we thought we'd pop in. I snapped a few pics of her, and when Eric caught sight of the pricetag...we politely excused ourselves...can you guess? $650 for a stuffed giraffe? I bet I could find a real-live giraffe for that on eBay...