To the Zoo!

I'm not exactly a zoo person.  I mean, zoos are sort of smelly.  And hot.  And honestly, the thought of loading up my crew just to stroll around and see some animals sort of makes me want to break out into hives.  But when I found out Pops had a meeting down here, I experienced a moment of temporary insanity and suggested we go with Mops to the zoo.

Honestly, it was the perfect day.  The weather was incredible, we got there before the crowds (and man, was it crowded when we left!), the big girls were exuberant, and there were no major meltdowns.  When I asked Phoebe what her favorite animal was, she said without hesitation that the monkeys were her favorite.  Nora indicated that the kangaroo was her personal favorite; however, we didn't actually see a kangaroo, so...who knows?

 

We did, however, see pretty much every other animal in the zoo.  I had no idea that elephants ate sticks, and I was amazed that the flamingos could sleep so close to all the commotion.  As we strolled through the zoo and observed all of the different animals (except for snakes, as Phoebe was adamant that we would not be going to see any snakes that day) I couldn't help but marvel at God's creativity.  Pink birds?  Really?  Giraffes?  At the zoo, we get to see just a tiny fraction of God's creation -- and it's all so absolutely incredible.

Phoebe was a riot to see.  She was so enthusiastic about, well, just about everything.  And about halfway through our visit, she got her hands on the map.  Every time we would stop, she'd whip out her map and exclaim, "I think we need to look at the map!"  I think I giggled every time.  She got nervous if she thought we were approaching the snakes, but she made a pretty adorable tour guide.

We wrapped up our trip around lunchtime, which was the perfect time to get out of there.  When we left, the parking lot was completely packed and folks were actually parking on the side of the road outside the zoo.  Traffic was insanity.  After soliciting some lunch recommendations, we met Pops at a wonderful little local restaurant.  Gilchrist was great, and I'm pretty sure I could've eaten about three pimiento cheese BLTs.  The girls were all about the milkshakes and limeaids.  Can you blame them?

 

 

We were completely wiped out, but honestly, it was such a wonderful day.  I pretty much made our poor community group fend for themselves that night. We had such a good time, I was almost considering a zoo pass!