Friday, February 22, 2008

President's Day

One of the nice things about Aaron having a state job is his days off. He actually gets President's Day off! I worked two different financial institutions for over six years and never got that day off. Anyway, we decided since it has been such warm weather that we would take a trip to the Austin Zoo. Going there made us miss Lansing and the Potter Park zoo, but it was a lot of fun and Claire really enjoyed it. But hey, in February we wouldn't be able to go to Potter Park anyway... The Austin zoo is totally non-profit and they rehabilitate animals, they don't get any local or state funding, so it was tiny. But just right for Claire. She does so well at knowing her animal noises I felt it was time for her to meet some of them up close. We got some animal feed and fed goats, sheep, and llamas.
Daddy took a turn helping Claire feed the deer. They were so little for being full-grown.

Here is Daddy and Claire and a big tortoise. Claire also got to see Tigers, bears, a Lioness, monkeys, and tropical birds. It took about an hour and half to see everything. Just right for a squirmy toddler.

The zoo was about a half hour drive southwest of Austin out in the hills. Claire wasn't interested in getting her picture taken, but I thought you might like to see the setting. As you can see the paths were not paved, so we brought the jogging stroller. Claire hardly stayed in it, but I felt bad for the people pushing their kids around in umbrella strollers over all the rocks. Admission was kind of expensive for what you get, but I guess it goes to a good cause if they are helping abused and abandoned animals. I'm glad that we had the chance to go.

2 comments:

Dawn said...

Wow- Claire has gotten so big!! My baby will be one next Tuesday! I am so sad. He's getting old too fast.

Kristi said...

Okay I am just curious....we went there in October and there were so so so so many bees. It was seriously like some horror movie, did you have that problem? Other than that it was a great little zoo (but I agree, a little too expensive for what you get but perfect for a toddler!)