Zoo Crew

A couple weeks ago, Annabeth, Grandma Maria and I took a trip to the zoo. On the way we stopped at Wal-Mart and Annabeth got these cute zoo stickers, which about 2 minutes after they were pictured here were stuck all over all of us and the car. :)

Here is an ostrich that we saw. I always take pictures of them when I see them, because I have a certain affinity with the bird. My maiden name is Oestreich, which often got pronounced "Ostrich" when people attempted to pronounce it. (Actually, it's pronounced like in baseball, "A-strike")

Later in the morning, we met up with Auntie Cam, Kendall and Jonathan during the sea lion feeding time. Then we went to a big play area for the kids where they have a huge maze of tunnels and slides that they can climb through, and this area with a big mat where jets of water shoot up out of random spots. Annabeth had a blast there, because she could finally get wet. It was a really hot day, and everywhere we went in the zoo, wherever we saw water, whether it was a running stream, a waterfall, or even a dirty pond or puddle, she would say, "I want to go swimming!" Finally she got her chance.

In this picture, you can see one of the water jets getting ready to hit Annabeth.

Here's all three of the kids after playing in the water.

After playing in the water, we went and saw a few more animals, the elephants, giraffes, (Annabeth and I had some dippin dots (ice cream) to cool off while Kendall and Jonathan got to feed the giraffes, because we had seen them eariler) the alligators, and then the kids got to sit on this Komodo dragon (statue).

After that, we went and saw all of the cats, including this meerkat, who ran from the other side of his cage to the fence right in front of us when he saw us. He must like to perform for his audience. :)

Next we went to see the tigers and the polar bears. When Annabeth saw the tigers, she said, "I want to get in there!" This was another recurring theme - she kept wanting to get in the cages with all the animals - "I want to pet them!" It was fun to see her enjoy the zoo in a totally different way than the last time we were there, which was a year ago. Auntie Cam told her she couldn't get in with the tigers because they would want to eat her. This must have made an impression, because the next day she said to me, "Auntie Cam said I can't get in with the tigers because they want to eat me."

Here is Annabeth looking at the polar bear pool from the passageway that goes underneath it. It's a bit shadowy, but I thought her shadowed profile looked pretty cool. We didn't see the polar bear from here,