We belong in the zoo. . .

I love the zoo, do you? David and I have been visiting zoos all over the place since we got married. We were both so excited as the kids were getting older and interested in zoos, too. We LOVED our zoo in Louisiana. It was small and inexpensive ($6 for all 4 of us to get in). Jessa knew her way around it like she lived there - she even called it "my zoo." That was one of the things I was sad to leave about Louisiana. . .

Now that we are back at Momma's, we have Zoo Atlanta aka "May's Zoo." This zoo is much larger with more animals, and therefore, more expensive. . . David and I took the kids last summer (July 2007), and it was crowded and HOT. So I decided once we were back at Mom's this year, we would wait until it was cooler. Well, this week, it was finally cooler. AND it was fall break from school, so we even got to go during the week.

Since we did not have David, I thought it would be fun to go with another Mom and kid/kids. I asked my neighbor across the street, Shelley and her 15 month old son, Carter. It was his first trip and Jessa was only too happy to show him the ropes.

Carter's favorite animal had to be the elephant. We saw them pretty early, and even doubled back. My favorite was the giraffe. We were SO close to one of them! I think Jessa's favorite part was the petting zoo. She LOVES goats so much. She got to feed some baby ones at Grant's Farm in St, Louis, and she has been in love ever since. She would have stayed there forever, if we would have let her. In fact, when we rode by the goats and sheep on the train, she screamed, "Hey, goats, it's me, Jessa!" Spencer, who has been standoffish before, was all about the goats this time. He found a zoo employee who knew all of the names of the animals. And he followed the guy around the rest of the time we were there asking all of their names! Jessa did not care what their actual names were; she was busy naming them all herself.

Shelley with her beginning talker was tickled at Jessa and Spencer's knowledge of all the animals. They shouted "Flamingos!" "Rhinoceros!" "Panda Bears!" I am telling you, we are zoo people! Although, Spencer does not like to waste time at any one exhibit. He said almost every time, "OK, now let's see more anmals."

Spencer was extra excited about the train ride (as always). You'll never guess what the engine was named? Yep, Thomas! And we rode in the last car facing backwards. Spencer liked being the "caboose!" And he even told the precious volunteer who was our "conductor," "That train was reery, reery fun!"

There is a cool carousel and playground in the kids area. What a fun, fun day we had!!

And what better place to let my monkeys expend some energy than the zoo, right??