When The Zoo Goes to the Zoo

***SPOILER WARNING!!! THERE ARE A TON OF PHOTOS!!! ****


While in Phoenix for Thanksgiving, we had the opportunity to take the girls to the zoo. Katrina has been to this zoo a few times, Madi has been once, and Violet has never been. Can you believe it? We have monkeys that have never seen live monkeys?

The first exhibit we went to was the stingray petting area. Yes, they have stingrays in a pool you can pet. Kat remembered them from the last visit, and was so excited.

Each of the stingrays is named. Don't ask me how they are able to tell most of them apart. I can't. I just remember Velvet's name because, well, she is black. Kind of obvious.

Violet thought the rays were interesting, but was more excited about taking a ride in the rental stroller.

The girls were so excited about seeing the giraffes...

... that they piled out of the strollers to watch.

They had this wonderful little gazelle statue to take pretty, pristine photos of perfectly-behaved princesses...

... or not.

Then some sweet people offered to take a photo of the girls & I while Jerome was checking
for wild animals in the men's room...

Seriously, who taught her about bunny ears?

Walking/riding around the zoo is hard word, so we took a snack break on a shady bench

while watching the baboons. Yes, the girls were thrilled with their behinds. That's my girls...

Then, just for good measure, we switched places in the strollers and had some more snacks.

The other attraction Katrina remembered was the camel ride. She almost leapt out of her pants when she found out she would get to ride. All of my equestrian friends will enjoy her posture. It's hard to sit straight on a hump!

The only way Madison was getting on the camel was with Mommy. She was totally intimidated by the size of the camel. But, once she got on, she had a blast. She repeatedly thanked the handlers, and even blew the camel a kiss goodbye. Hmm...how much is a camel honey?

After lunch, the girls were REALLY tired of walking, so we decided to hop on the train/tram to see the rest of the major animals. Our driver was very interesting - she literally sang everything she could have said. Special.

But, perhaps the favorite part of the zoo wasn't even a live animal. They have a carousel near the entrance. Our tickets gave us unlimited rides. The girls abused that priviledge. Violet talked to her tiger.

Madison screamed for joy.

And Katrina tried to be the mature young lady.

But she was just as giddy as the little bits.

Before we left the zoo (6 hours later), the girls insisted that the stingrays would cry if we didn't say goodbye. I have no idea how they knew that, but it just seemed so cruel to make a stingray cry. So we went. Violet was intimidated by them in the morning, but saying goodbye must have seemed easier for her, because she got right up there with them. She even touched the baby ray.

Bye stingrays! See you next year!