The Zoo

A couple of Saturdays ago, Esa and I decided we needed to get out of the house, so we chose to go to the zoo. It was a new version of the standard zoo experience. :)

Buying cotton candy! From the minute we pulled into the parking lot, Esa was the classic zoo goer... the enthusiastic cotton candy-buying, picture-taking type.

This made me laugh. It says "if they can, why can't you?"

We could not believe the number of eggs this poor thing had. It kind of reminds me of the single mother who just added octuplets to her already struggling family of six.

They chose American Airlines for their trip south.

"A hedgehog!" I shouted with glee. No Katie, that would be an atelerix albiventris.

One of the stars of the zoo... a baby lion!

I thought he was very cute. I thought the woman that was desperately trying to bond with him through the glass was a little pathetic.

I don't remember what this was, but it looks ugly.

These guys read in Reader's Digest that one really MUST get 30 min. of daily physical activity. So they got in line and went around, and around,

and around, and around.

True to the guy/girl stereotype, Esa found a lot more enjoyment in the snake house than I did!

I think this is the one that was shedding his skin...

Me shooting...

...a poor, innocent, slightly blurry deer. (Esau cannot get over the fact that I deer hunt!)

The monkeys were the only reason I would go back.

Looking for something edible... This is probably the same little guy who picked up a banana peel in hopes of something tasty, sniffed it, and threw it back in disgust.

Esa teases me about being related, but I don't see the resemblance.

They even have a hammock!

By the way, I have to give Esa the picture credit for almost all of these! I really like this one.

Playing, fighting, play-fighting? One never knows.

A mama donkey and baby donkey... You could pet them and get your picture taken with them if you wanted. Another reason to go back to the zoo!

*And now for my favorite zoo memory: We paused quite awhile at the cage of the ugly monkeys with the bare red bottoms and were in for a treat. Not only did we witness the usual monkeyisms, but also a mother monkey's tight reign on her baby. He was absolutely desperate to go play, and mother was absolutely determined he was going nowhere. He would scurry away as fast as he could and she would stretch her arm out a little ways, then yank him back. He scurried away, she yanked him back, and so on.