amals

Mia went to see the 'amals' at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco today, and we went with her. No stroller, just her little body slathered in sunblock, sippy cup, and hat...that's all she needed. Well, occasionally, her Dada's shoulders when the walking got tough.

It was a beautiful day for a trip to the zoo. Partially overcast, a light breeze, no humidity. Perfect. And the animals were so alert and playful. Some of the best things about this zoo are that all the animals are very close, it's a smallish zoo...so Mia easily walked it, 75% is shaded by big trees, there's a mister that Mia called rain. She knows the names of many animals, but one thing she just can't get yet is that giraffes are not zebras. She knows zebras are zebras, but thinks giraffes are zebras, too.

We think Mia's highlights are the following :

being able to run and run and run

getting to wear her cool camo hat

feeding the ginormous catfish

the swimming turtles

the fighting tortoise..ok, that was Daryl's fav (check out the video)

owls

giraffes

elephants

she snake and tiger that she got from the gift shop

We were there for about 3 hours, and we were able to go through the whole zoo and see every exhibit with a lot of time for Mia wanting to sit and just look at the animals...well 'sit' after we told her she couldn't climb under/over/through whatever barrier they had...to protect the animals from toddlers :)

Once we hit the road for home, Mia hummed to herself for a couple of minutes and passed out. It was only 1 1/2 hour drive, so we'll be back!

Dada telling her all about elephants

Rhinoceroses snort and snuff

don't remember what could be more interesting than a giraffe...

lone giraffe

and if you see an alligator..don't for get to SCREAM!

Mia just wants to play with the kitty getting a closer lookhugemongous tortoise strollin' hand in handDada's sweethearts

Mia excited to be at the zoo, hanging with the amals, scored herself a snake, and a lot of cool tortoise video: