Molly spent the weekend with us and to help stave off boredom we took them to the Birmingham Zoo. It was a surprise and they were too excited! It was a nice day, weather wise, but we were worried that for that reason alone the zoo would be packed. Lucky for us, the crowds held off until after lunch and by then we were headed home for lunch and a nap.
We knew we wanted to feed the giraffes, so we headed to the Savannah first to watch the animals near the giraffe exhibit until they opened. We saw lots of zebras, deer and tigers. While we were looking at the white tiger we kept hearing something roar. We laughed about how scary that would sound after dark. We walked around the corner and a male and female lion were laying around in the sun roaring at eat other. They were HUGE.
Feeding them was hilarious. Ella wouldn’t have anything to do with it and it took Molly a few tries to feel good about it. The zookeepers gave us food that was shaped like sidewalk chalk. We held it between our forefinger and thumb and the giraffe would reach out with its tongue and pull it out of your hands. Their tongues were so long and so strong! I wanted to feed the left out mommy, but her child wrestled it out of my hand and it fell to the ground.
Possibly the funniest moment of the day was at the Social Animals exhibit. We were watching a monkey {not sure what kind, but it looked remarkably like Rafiki from The Lion King} play with a stick in its habitat. It was obviously using it for a purpose, but it wasn’t cooperating. All of a sudden the monkey started banging the stick around having a fit, shaking its arms and legs and finally hurling the stick across its home. Josh and I were laughing uncontrollably.
We didn’t bring our swimsuits, so the girls were disappointed not to get to play in the splash pad, but we wrapped up the morning with rides on both the train and the carousel. We tried to convince them to ride a camel, but they both looked at us like we were crazy. Instead we grabbed lunch on our way home and crashed for about three hours that afternoon.
The girls have had lots of fun this weekend, but they are wearing each other out.
Here are the girls watching the baby giraffes walk around the exhibit.
Getting our tokens ready for the train and carousel rides later in the day.
Giraffes waiting for breakfast
Daddy, Ella and the lorakeets
Feeding the giraffes and their BIG tongues
Riding the train with mommy
More lorakeet action
The carousel to close the day.
