Zoo Day

I have never had so much fun going to the Zoo! Nana, Papa, David, and I took Gemma for a day trip to the St. Louis Zoo. She absolutely loved it. Initially she was a little perplexed, but quickly decided it was a fun place. The weather was beautiful, and although it was a little crowded, overall we couldn't have asked for a better day.

I had never actually been in the kid's zoo because you have to pay to get in, but Nana and Papa insisted...and I'm glad they did, it was definitely the highlight of the trip. One thing we know about Gemma, is that she's pretty fearless. There was no hesitation to get as close to the animals as she could. I think her favorite part was getting to pet the goats. It was priceless! There was one little goat that was especially tuckered out, so he just laid on the bench while several kids surrounded him. Gemma got to sit down while the goat put his head on her lap. Oh my goodness, did she ever feel cool!

The penguin house was pretty cool as well. It smelled terrible and it was freezing inside, but she seemed to like every second. A couple of the penguins were swimming around (it's amazing how fast they are) and then jumping out onto the rocks. She found that to be pretty entertaining. She especially liked it when one of them decided to flap its wing and get a bunch of us wet. I did NOT like that part. Not only was the water freezing, but it smelled like fish. Gemma didn't mind.
For lunch, we were able to get a perfect table that looked right over the lake with all the ducks, swans, flamingos, etc... She LOVED feeding bread to the ducks. She probably would have thrown a tantrum when we said it was time to go, had we not been going to ride the train next.

She was beyond cute on the train. She would say "woah it's dark" every time we went into a tunnel, and the rest of the time she passed around hugs. It was pretty sweet.
She didn't last much longer than the train ride. We got to the back of the zoo where some of the cooler (in my opinion) animals are, but I could tell she was getting pretty restless. So I picked her up, gave her her blanket and she immediately put her head on my shoulder and passed out. I'm not kidding when I say it was instantaneous. She must have been especially tired because she slept right though us putting her back in the stroller, making a stop at the gift shot, walking back to the car, me changing her diaper and taking her sweater off, and loading her into the car seat. She didn't wake up until we were about 20 miles away from Columbia.

It was such a fun day for all of us! I can't wait to do it again.

Not sure what to think yet.

Getting a closer look at the fish.

Making sure we're still close.

She liked the chickens that were just out and about

Showing Papa

Getting this picture was harder than you would think. Her face in this one cracks me up every time.

Looking at the hippos with daddy.

Ummmm not so sure about this.

The best part...the goats!

She is just precious!

Feeding the ducks with Nana.

The train ride.

Starting to get tired from all the walking.

And she's out.