The Zoo!

Okay, so I actually went to the zoo about a month ago but, as you know, I've been slacking on posting all sorts of things. Me, my mom, my sister, and my brother decided to take my niece, Ashlyn, one sunny Sunday. I have to say, it was the best day I'd had in a long time. I hadn't been to The Hogle Zoo in probably over 5 years and I was pleasantly surprised at how much it's been updated. Anyway, without further ado, here are some of my favorite pictures from our day at the zoo:

I love the look on Ashlyn's face when her dad (my brother, Shaun) arrived to scoop her up onto his shoulders so she could look around at everything. I know I may be a biased aunt, but I think she's seriously one of the cutest little girls on the face of the planet. (I think that girl looking up at her MUST be thinking the same thing...notice the expression of utter envy on her face?)

Here's my mom, holding Ashlyn, trying to get her to look at the camera and smile. It never really happened. With as much as this kid gets her picture taken, it's a wonder she'll even stay in front of a camera these days! Still...I love this picture, even if neither of them are looking at the camera. It's more true and natural this way. :)

Ashlyn LOVES trains, or "choo-choos," so we HAD to ride the choo-choo at the zoo. It's just too bad that we waited in line for about 20 minutes and then right when we were at the gate, they told everyone they had to refuel the train and we'd all have to wait another 20 minutes.

Thankfully, it only took them about 10 minutes to refuel the choo-choo. :)

Now, onto the Asian Highlands, to see if we can get a glimpse of some tigers or other big kitties. Unfortunately, it was ungodly hot so no big kitties were in sight. However, that doesn't mean that they can't surprise spray you! It's a good thing me and Shaun are tough li'l Asians...

Yes, that's right...there's my tummy (as promised). ;)

So, Ashlyn has these two little giraffe's that she takes pretty much everywhere she goes. She calls them Moo-Moos (or Mee-Moos...or maybe one's a Moo-Moo and the other is a Mee-Moos; we haven't quite figured it out yet). Anyway, we took her to see the giraffes and she loved 'em!

Unfortunately, as you can see, I didn't manage to get any pictures of Ashlyn up close to a giraffe. That's okay though because we DID manage to get her onto a giraffe on the Merry-Go-Round, which proved to be her very favorite part of the whole day.

And last, but not least, I leave you with a little video of our totally exciting Merry-Go-Round ride at the zoo. Enjoy! :)

I personally can't wait to go back to the zoo again (I'm such a big kid about those kinds of things I guess). Anyway, brace yourselves because I've got more posts to come! :D