Our Trip to the Zoo

Andrew, Ella, and I went to the St. Louis Zoo this past Saturday with Grammy, Melanie, Ryleigh, and Devan. The weather was great! It was a perfect day for the zoo, and surprisingly it didn't seem super crowded. Andrew had a great time! We went to the zoo about 4 months ago, but he was definitely more interested this time. His speech has really grown over the past 4 months, so I am guessing that helped him get a little more into it.

We headed to the children's zoo first. There was a person dressed as a lizard and Andrew and Devan had their picture taken with him. Ryleigh was a little scared. Andrew also petted some guinea pigs, went down the slide, climbed inside the hippo, and played on the rope spider web. He loved the goats!! He was not scared at all. He went right in and started following the goats, petting them, getting down in their faces and talking/smiling at them. He loved it. It was so cute. One of the goats was trying to sleep and Andrew sat down beside him and petted him. The goat stuck his horns in Andrew's side. He looked really surprised but didn't get scared or cry. Other animals that we saw that Andrew seemed interested in were the elephants, hippos, zebras, lions, bears, and penguins. He wanted to get into the cages with all of them; he tried climbing under a couple fences. I would have to say the penguins were his favorite. He and Grammy watched one for a long time that was really close to them. The penguin kept swimming past them and splashing them, which Andrew thought was funny. Andrew also loved being with Ryleigh and riding in the wagon with her. He is so sweet to Ryleigh (most of the time). He tries to hold her hand everywhere they go and he wanted to show the animals to her a few times.

Ella of course isn't quite old enough for the zoo, but she was really good. She didn't want to take a nap in her stroller, though. She wasn't crabby, but she just kept looking around and wouldn't relax so she could go to sleep. I finally put her in the wrap and carried her so she would fall asleep for awhile. The only animal she really seemed interested in watching was the penguin, probably because they are so close. She had very few naps that day and had lots of trouble settling down once we got home. I think it was a big day for her and she was over stimulated and over tired. She seems to be getting back on track today.

We ended our day with a picnic lunch that Grammy packed for us. Andrew, Ryleigh, and Devan had a great time running around...I don't know how they had the energy but they did. I think Grammy, Melanie, and I were all pooped. Devan was the first to fall asleep in the car, Ryleigh only slept about 20 minutes, and Andrew didn't fall asleep at all!! It was a very fun (and tiring) day. I would post some pictures but I don't have my computer right now. It's being fixed, so I'm using my mom's.