Up close and personal

For Reagan's birthday we went to the zoo. She loves the zoo, we all do. But mostly because she is a bit obsessed with elephants. She walks around the house pretending to be an elephant. She will put her arm to her face like a trunk, and then swing her arm, she'll pick things up with her hand and then bring them to her mouth. It's pretty adorable!

Anyways, it was a cold day, but we bundled. The zoo was completely vacant, which we loved! We were able to get up close and personal with all the animals and watch them for as long as we liked.

Jefferson with the Mountain Goat. We've been to the zoo over a dozen times and this is the second time we've seen him. I have to admit, I got a little excited, which got the kids really excited, at which time Shawn thought we were completely nuts. I should have got a better picture of him… but this picture of Jefferson is cuter!

This alligator is awesome! This is Grant's favorite animal to see. We stayed for a while watching him just float. The kids counted his "dinosaur spikes." Every 30 minutes the rainforest exhibit has a rainstorm with lightning… and rain, believe it or not. So right after that we hear a loud roar…. Then again. I thought it was a dinosaur. It happened again, and I realized it was the alligator….letting out a HUGE dinosaur roar. Am I the only one who didn't know they roared? We definitely learn something new every time we go to the zoo.

Reagan really liked these fella's

Shawn can't go to the zoo without checking out the Naked Mole Rats. He loves 'em, he wants one for a pet.

These are my favorite. They are entertaining to watch and they come and sit close to the window and just look at you. I always feel like they understand what we're saying and they have so much they want to say back, but just can't. I know it sounds lame. But, Reagan gets what I'm talking about, she and this Orangutan talked for a while.

Here's Shawn and Reagan watching the lions.

This lion was sitting further away from the glass minding her own business when I pushed Grant up to the window for a better look. She jumped up and came right up to the glass, face to face with Grant. Scary… thank goodness there was glass separating us. Grant's voice was trembling "is her going to eat me?"
…. No, she just wants your popcorn.

I just realized I didn't get a picture of the elephants… the whole reason we went, I guess we'll have to go back.