Super Zoo Fun Day!

Friday Autumn didn't have school so we went to the zoo! Josh and Aurora and their mom Mimi met us there.We had a great time even if there were a couple of hiccups!

For example, THE TRAIN RIDE OF DOOOOOM. The little kid train was interesting. I love fast rides but I dooon't think this train was meant to go like 40 miles an hour. The kids were screaming of fear and joy and I told Mimi that we were about to be on the 5:00 news! "In other news, train derailment at the Memphis Zoo..."

We almost lost Miss Aurora. Mimi and I were on the row behind the kids because, again, kiddie train, so I had one arm on Aurora keeping her from tumbling out and Mimi was holding on to Aurora's inside arm! We survived, though, and did let the zoo know that their operator was a teeensy bit excited about her job.

In the same area as the train, there's a petting zoo. No one was in the mood to be petted, sadly. I did get a photo of this hilarious goat. It just stood there like this, stock still and in denial that anyone else was around. I named him the Mike Goat. Teehee.

Autumn did manage to sneak up on a chicken that had flown her coop. She was all SHHHHH I AM HUNTING and got to brush the chicken's feathers. Exciting. Apparently.

At lunch, these guys romped around in this cute bridge area. Of course, all of my pictures from this spot except this one are blurry. OH, by the way, all of these have aikidomemphis.com watermarks. Please ignore them. I had previously set the auto-watermark and I was too lazy to delete and re-upload the photos!

The pandas were pretty cute. Those ears! I want to pet them!

Autumn loved this panda's nest. She was all, "he's so cozy and comfy with his food!"

And NOW. For the HIGHLIGHT of the TRIP. GIRAFFE FEEDING. One of the best $5 I've ever spent!! This even made up for the fact that they sent the kiwis to New England before we could see them. We tried 3 times but they were shy, which is why they moved. Anyway, Autumn got a handful of lettuce to feed the giraffes.

They had baby giraffes but we went over to Kenya who looked really excited to get some lettuce. LOOK AT THAT FACE. Did you know giraffe heads weigh over 100 pounds? Kind of amazing. 

This is basically the same photo but, again, LOOK AT THAT FACE. Giraffes kind of weird me out so I'm a little surprised at how adorable they are when I'm not thinking about their really long necks and knobbly legs. Although giraffes weird me out less than ostriches.

As Autumn finished, one of the zookeepers stopped us and got some extra lettuce. He said that Kenya is really great at photo ops and then if Autumn would turn and face the camera and hand Kenya lettuce over the shoulder, she'd get a cool photo. Well. Autumn was a little nervous so I handed her the camera, told her I'd go first, and asked her to take a picture. I never thought she'd really get a good one but this could be the best picture anyone has taken of me in a long time! AND, it's now on the zoo's Facebook page! Autumn was having some trouble with a boy at school today so this went a long way to make her feel better.

None of mine were remotely as awesome but Autumn and Kenya are too cute not to photograph well. Kenya has a crazy long tongue! Going...

Going...

AND GONE! Both of them have great faces here. Kenya's all "more lettuce? We're totally friends now, right? BECAUSE LETTUCE!"

Bye, giraffes!