A cow really does moo...

On Thursday I took Raeli on her first Zoo trip and Kelsie came with us. I couldn't wait to show her the elephants and the orangutans and hear the lion roar and there was the petting zoo that was going to be so exciting. Crossing the bridge to enter the zoo we pointed to all the turtle's that were sun-bathing - she looked but then excitedly said "duck!". Yes there are of course ducks but she sees those weekly, no real excitement for the turtles. Then we paid our entrance fee (which I think is way too much) and as soon as you pass the entrance there are photographers - what? when did that happen :) I just thought it was funny but smart of them to capitalize on this experience like they do in the theme parks. (side note and my only complaint - Kelsie was holding Raeli and the photographer took one of us all and them then sweetly asked to get one of just Kelsie and Raeli - I wanted to say but I am the mom. Although my girls are old enough to be her Mom it is just something new to me to be overlooked as the Mom - am I really that old)
For journal purpose I am going to list a couple stops that we enjoyed - if you lack interest or time you can go directly to the bottom of the page and see just the highlights.

First Stop: Giraffes we liked these but they also had longhorn cattle that were much closer so they stole Raeli's attention.

Second stop: Elephants - this is where I realized I left the camera at home and my phone in the car - Thank you Kelsie for taking all the pictures that we have of the zoo :). The Elephants were just one elephant and he/she was swaying way too far away for it to be exciting for Raeli but she did see it :) But what she really liked was the squirrel that was about 2 feet away from us. The elephant exhibit was infested with these critters.

We looked at animals in between actual stops but these are the ones I remember :)

Third stop: Petting Farm YAY!! We first saw the cows outside the petting zoo and Raeli loved it. Kelsie started petting one of them and Raeli was reaching over to pet her as well when the cow turned her head towards Raeli and moo-ed. Tears and Fears :) She was done being anywhere near that cow. We stayed a bit longer to show her that the cow was nice. Kelsie kept petting it. It  did ease her worries a little but we walked away having Kelsie wanting a cow. (by the way Raeli talked about Kelsie and the cow all day today) Onto the goats...um no way! For a good 5 minutes she did not really want to even get down, then a switch flipped and just like that she had the brush and was going from one goat touching it then running to the next goat and touching it not stopping for probably 10 minutes.

This one was pre-excitement

Then this happened and we decided before the goats gave her reason to be fearful we would move on.

During the duel Raeli went up to the little goat on the left - this is when we decided no more goats today.

Then on our way out of the petting zoo we stopped and talked to Jack a very big and beautiful black stallion. We tried to talk him into coming over to the fence so we could pet him he moved his knees and looked up at us often but that was all he would give us (maybe that was all he had to give)
We also saw a turkey who kept puffing up which was cool but I couldn't help but feel bad that he thought he needed to protect against us.

Next stop: Monkey Village. The zoo now has it version of the butterfly exhibit but for monkeys. So you go into this enclosed area and walk around where the monkeys are - it was pretty cool. We only saw 4 or 5 but it was still cool. On our way out there was a monkey in a branch that was about 3 feet away. That was exciting for all of us.

Next Stop: Really Cool Splash pad/playground. Raeli and Kelsie played while I found a shaded place to sit for lunch. Then Raeli ate and played some more. (Kelsie and I ate later at Costco - love that place)

Next Stop: Lions and Tigers. The male lion has always roared each time I have visited the zoo. This time he was tired. He was down in the ditch and not obstructed by anything so Raeli liked seeing him. I never get over how big these cats are. Then we rounded the corner to the Tiger enclosure. He/she was being very playful tossing the barrel around and scratching at the fallen trunk and then finally climbing the tree. Oh and he/she made up for the lion not roaring by roaring off and on for about 5 minutes. So cool.

Next to last stop: The Desert Zoo aka the reptile exhibit (it leads to all other creatures we find here in the desert though) This might as well been the only thing we saw because it definitely was Raeli's favorite. She ran from one end of the reptile exhibit to the other end back and forth multiple times pointing at each one she saw and talking like she was an expert. I may be exaggerating but I think we spent 15 minutes just looking at the snakes and Gila Monster (if you have been to the Phoenix Zoo - that is a lot of time to be looking at snakes) She cried when we pulled her out of there, but then hugged the stone frog and was ready to see more things.

Raeli actually saw this owl and loved it.

Last stop: Sting Ray Bay - this was pretty cool. We were able to touch the stingless sting rays. Raeli did not really think this was that cool - it kind of freaked her out. But Kelsie and I thought it was awesome. They are a bit slimy feeling though which at first was yucky but I got over it because it was so cool how they would see your hands in the water and swim right up to you.

Highlights:

Kelsie being Raeli's mom ~ Cow mooing ~ Petting goats ~ water play ground ~ tiger roars and playfulness ~ snakes, snakes, snakes and frog (and for me and Kels) slimy sting rays.

Maybe for Raeli's 2 yr B-day present I will get a zoo membership :)