A TRIP TO THE ZOO!!!

ZEBRAS!!
Looking at the animals...DADDY??

SCREAMING like the MONKEYS!!!


Holding on for the ride!
GIRAFFES!!

So we've been VERY excited about taking Bella to the zoo ever since we planned the trip a couple of months ago. In fact, we've been practicing pointing at animals and making their noises in a few of her books so that when we saw the different animals she'd be ready. We made sure we got there right when it opened to make sure we saw as many animals as possible before it got too hot and before Bella decided she needed her nap. We're very proud of ourselves because we saw just about everything while we were there and Bella had a GREAT time!!!

The first few animals we saw were the Australians--kangaroo, koala bear, etc.--but Bella didn't know these one so she would just stare and sometimes point at them. Then we started to get to animals that looked more like ones she knew and she got very excited. She was "moooing" and "baaaing" at lots of different animals that looked like cows and sheep. Soon we came to the zebras (this is one we've been practicing and she loves to point them out) and she was just amazed to watch real zebras in action.

From there we found the rest of the African animals and they just kept getting better! We found lions, giraffes, tropical birds, monkeys and then came to Bella's absolute favorites--MONKEYS!!! It was lunch time when we found the chimps and they were being very vocal, which Bella incredibly excited. They were talking to each other like crazy, so Bella decided to talk to them too. We probably spent ten minutes there with Bella running from the cage to Mom to the cage to Grandma back to the cage, all the while yelling "ooo, ooo, ooo". She laughed like crazy and loved every minute of her chimp time.

After the chimps we saw elephants, rhinos, tigers, and tons of other animals. We even went to a petting zoo and Bella brushed a few goats. We could tell that she was getting tired, but she didn't want to miss anything so she just kept on going. When we finally finished with the animals and were leaving the park, Bella found a stuffed monkey (thanks Grandma!) that hasn't left her side since she got it!! She loves monkeys now!!! The zoo was great--whenever we take her new places and she enjoys them, it makes us that much more excited to take her somewhere else!!