The BEST Zoo Trip EVER!

We had a family zoo day today and I have to say it was seriously the best zoo experience I have ever had. I have been to the zoo a lot of times and I have never seen the animals this closely before! It was so amazing! A little known fact about me is that I LOVE giraffes, I think they are the most fascinating animals, so when I heard that the zoo was now offering a chance to feed the giraffes, I couldn't have been more excited! This was our first stop when we got there.

This is Bogey, the male.

And Elly, the female.

Olive liked feeding Bogey. He was a quick eater, so as soon as he took one piece of lettuce he was ready for another and this scared her a little.

Check out that tongue! Later in the day when we talked to her about the giraffes, she would stick out her tongue.

Daddy and Olive checking out the lions at the top of the hill. Next we headed over to the Elephant Exhibit to see baby Malee. They were right next to the fence and we got to watch them squirt water on their backs and then watch baby Malee roll around in the dirt!

Silly Malee!

Olive was really jealous that the elephants got to play in the waterfall and started requesting to go to the "water playground to take my shoes off".

When we were walking out of the Elephant Exhibit, Stephen stopped suddenly and said "STOP!"

This disgusting creature was slithering across the path. I kind of had a mini heart attack and then immediately grabbed the camera!

So in the picture it doesn't look like it was that close, but I can assure you, it was TOO CLOSE! It may be sad, but I had never considered that snakes could be all around at the zoo with all of the wooded areas and the giant pond. I can promise you that I will never be so nonchalant at the zoo again! I kept watching the ground in front of us! YUCK!

Olive loved feeding the ducks. She kept saying "Here duckie! Quack!"

Then we headed into the Cat Forest (not the best place to be when you have snakes on the brain and there is bamboo all around you and your child yells "snake!" everytime she sees a root on the ground)

Olive was pretty interested in the tiger statue.

The zoo has 4 new baby tiger cubs who were born recently. We got to see the Mommy and 2 of the cubs hiding in their cave, but we kept hearing another tiger roaring. In a separate area, we found the Daddy tiger. He did not appear to be very happy about being away from his family and he growled and roared the whole time we stood there. When he would walk along the fence, he was only about 7 feet from us. Olive kept saying "Hi Daddy Tiger! Hi!"
Someone told us that the lions were right at the window, so we headed there next. They were RIGHT next to the window! Olive never hesitated, she just walked up and starting talking to them like they were kitty cat sized! She was a little confused by the female lions not having manes and she kept saying "Hi tiger!"

I don't think she was very comfortable putting her back to the lions! ISN'T THIS AMAZING?!!! Look how big she is compared to Olive! I was in awe!

Giving the lion kisses

"Look Daddy!"

Our last stop was the water playground in the Children's Zoo. She was so excited to take off her shoes and get her feet wet.

It was a great ending to a great day! We talked about the animals all evening and she keeps saying "I feed the staraps and the elfants. It so fun with Mommy Daddy".