Labor Day Zoo Trip

Since today was Labor Day, I closed my office, and we decided we wanted to do something fun. We invited our friends, the Henderson's, to join us on a trip to the zoo. Zoo Atlanta is a pretty good zoo which has some great animals. Not surprisingly, it was pretty crowded today, but the weather was lovely. We always have a great time with Brian and Jill, Lily and Parker are precious together, and Mia and Macey are fun to watch since they are so close in age. We just continued Ryan's birthday celebration with time with more friends!

Lily was very excited about seeing the giraffes because her shirt had a giraffe on it; she told me later that was her favorite animal to see. Parker's favorite was the lion which was pretty cool because he was growling when we saw it; did you know they actually make that loud growl when they are yawning? Fun fact for you if you didn't know that. For the first time, Lily actually petted the animals in the petting zoo today; she has always been too nervous to touch the animals before though she likes seeing them. Today though she pulled me right in and wanted to touch every single one of the goats, pigs and sheep. I was thrilled! She and I also road the train together; she was not so excited about going into the tunnels. Mia did well most of the time, but finally she fell asleep in the stroller; I think she enjoyed her first trip to the zoo though. Before we left, we decided to buy a family pass. Once Lily turns 3 in a few weeks, we will have to start paying for her admission; if we go one more time in the next year, the pass more than pays for itself so we thought it made sense.

Here are a few of the people pictures; I am not including the animal pictures because I assume you know what zoo animals look like. Also, they uploaded in backwards order, and it would take a really long time to rearrange them; it's already late, so you can just see our trip backwards.

Mia held out for awhile, but eventually, she couldn't fight a nap any longer.

Before the train ride.
Petting a little goat while he ate.

We both wanted to pet the sleeping pigs.

Lily and Parker as kangaroos.

Lily as a panda bear. We have taken this picture every time we have taken her to the zoo. It's amazing to see how she has grown and changed!

Lily and Ryan watching the pandas. Ford was the corporate sponsor of the panda exhibit, but they have said they cannot continue that support this year. Zoo Atlanta is trying to raise $500K by the end of the year to keep the pandas here; if they can't, the pandas will return to China. Here's hoping they stay because it's really cool to see them.

Mia liked watching the pandas too.

For some reason, Lily wanted her picture on this rock outside the panda habitat. Go figure.

Macey and Mia rode next to each other for a little while. Aren't they cute?

With my girls.

Holding Lily up to see the elephants.