There's a First Time For Everything

"We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

How about you, you, you?

You can come too, too, too!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!"

-Sharon, Lois, and Brahm

Last weekend we went to Columbia to visit Grammy and Poppa while Chad went on a trip of his own.  Riverbanks Zoo has free Fridays in February for residents of Lexington and Richland counties (which my license still says I am...), so Mom took the day off and took us on our first zoo trip.  We had an absolute blast!  Gracie has never been to the zoo (I know, bad Mommy!), and she loved seeing her favorite animals up and walking around.

Here are me and the kiddos. Check out my snazzy new haircut :o)

It was cold and windy, so a lot of the "outside" animals were hiding or sleeping.  Gracie had a difficult time seeing the sleeping animals, so the first ones she actually noticed were the gorillas.

Next we went to see the elephants, which she loved.  She kept asking if she could ride one.

So, we found her one that was just her size :o)

She kept yelling "YeeHaw!  Ride on the wind!"  (I have absolutely no clue where she heard that...)

If you haven't been to Riverbanks in a while (which I hadn't) it was changed so much!  The new Africa exhibits are neat, and there is a baby giraffe.  So cute!

Not only can you get up close to the giraffes, but you can feed them!

Yes, $2.00 for a handful of lettuce leaves is completely unreasonable a steal when you are using them to feed a giant giraffe.

Jack was there too :o)

One of G's favorite attractions was the llama. 

As seen in Llama Llama Mad at Mama :o)

Grammy continued the spoiling by purchasing a horsey ride for the little princess.

Gracie promptly fell in love and named the pony "Neigh."

She didn't even flinch when they put the helmet on her head.

She loved on "Neigh" before we had to leave...

...and, of course, began to cry when she couldn't keep her.

The only thing that made it better was a trip to see "Llama" :o)

She wasn't nearly as excited about "riding" Happy the tiger.

She wouldn't sit on it without me.

Our last stop was the bird house to see the penguins and look who we ran into:

Lauren with her Senior Citizens!

Lauren works at Agape in Lexington as a recreation coordinator,

and she had brought her old folks to the zoo :o) 

 Quote of the day "Aww, Kel, you're with your babies, and I'm with my old people!"

Gracie loved the penguins and kept asking to "open" the exhibit so she could get closer.

I love how you can see her smiley little reflection in this picture :o)

I think we wore them out...

I'm not sure who had more fun, me and Mom or the kids!

I can't wait to take them back when it is warm and Jack is a little bit older!