To the zoo

A few weeks ago Brantley invited us to join her family for a morning at the zoo. Since the temperatures were dropping I thought it was a great idea. Ruth Ann spends a lot of time looking at a book that has a variety of animals in it and is pretty good at naming most of them...my favorite is to hear her say "gorilla"...she drops the "r" so it sounds more like "go-illa" but it's very cute. On previous trips to the zoo she has mostly just enjoyed the time outside, but this zoo visit was the first where she seemed excited to see the animals...it was so much fun!



I love the meerkats...the have so much personality, but I especially love that the exhibit is so kid friendly...even though Ruth Ann could see the meerkat clearly from where she was standing, Sydney gave her a little boost to get a better look...



Today the gorilla was out...thank goodness since he was the animal I wanted Ruth Ann to see the most...



Then we headed to the farm area to check out another one of my favorites...the Nubian Goats...they definitely have a face only a mother could love.



Mason really showed the the goats some love...



Mason also rode the ponies. Ruth Ann is still a little too young to ride...you have to be 2 years old. I would fudge the truth and let her ride, but so far she's been a big talker where riding horses is concerned. From 20 feet away, she wants to ride the pony...when you're handing her over to ride she goes into meltdown mode.



Brantley and I awarded this horse "Best Hair"...



Then we ate lunch at monkey island and this monkey kept putting on show to entertain us...



And finally, I watched Brantley live out my worst nightmare...a bird attack...okay, it wasn't really an "attack" as much as she was harmlessly feeding the birds, but to me it had the makings of an attack written all over it...



I was behind the safety of a net screen (that's why the picture quality looks kinda funny).



I have inherited my mother's healthy fear of birds and I seem to have passed it on to my own daughter. Thankfully Ruth Ann had zero interest in feeding the birds, otherwise I would have been forced to pay the money and throw her into the feeding area by herself...I'll do a lot for my daughter but allowing birds to perch on my head, arms, hands, etc. is where I firmly draw the line. Ruth Ann will have to bring her daddy to the zoo for that since Grammy and I will never see the inside of this exhibit!