sadie's 1st trip to the l.a. zoo

Sadie and I went to the zoo today.  I wasn't sure if she would like it, but she definitely had fun. 

We saw some gerenuks, a meerkat, flamingos, a hippo, tigers, some deer-like animals, and then we got to the gibbons.  These were the first animals she really seemed interested in.  She pointed at them and cooed and babbled.  It was adorable. 

She thought the rhino was pretty cool.  We watched it being fed.  She blew kisses to him.

Then we spent some time watching the giraffes.  What beautiful animals they are!

The chimpanzees were too far in the exhibit to really see - bummer.  We saw an elephant, and then on to the orangutans.  How fun are they?  She really enjoyed watching them climb and goof around.

Then we moved on to the gorillas.  I think they were definitely her favorite.  There was a huge one, a smaller one and a baby.  As soon as she saw them, she started waving and saying hi.  Too cute!

Then, they walked away and out of sight and Sadie looked at me and did this.

This is how she asks, "What happened?"  We walked around the exhibit and found them again and got a few more pictures.  She kept saying hi and blowing them kisses. 

After the gorillas we saw zebras, more deer-like animals (there are a lot of these!), camels, kangaroos, koalas, otters and sea lions.  I skipped most of the birds and we somehow missed the lions. 

So, we had fun but I have to say I was disappointed with a couple of things.  Obviously they know people are going to come with strollers.  Well, Sadie couldn't see most of the animals sitting in her stroller.  Very few displays had clear glass for her to see through.  Most had fences that made it completely impossible for her to see.  So, I had to take her out of the stroller and hold her.  I didn't mind doing this, but the problem was getting her back in the stroller to get to the next exhibit.  Once I took her out, she wanted me to hold her and trying to push a stroller while holding 20+ pounds of wriggling child - not easy.  Next time I'm definitely bringing the sling!

Another thing that both surprised and disappointed me was the gift shop.  The selection was pretty sad.  Don't get me wrong, I managed to spend about $50, but I was surprised they didn't have more books, toddler dishes and cups, and toys.  I wanted to get a little zoo photo album to put our pictures in, but they didn't have one.  And their adult tee shirt selection was pitiful. 

The last disappointment wasn't really a surprise.  When I was little they had these Mold-a-Rama machines that made bright colored, plastic animals.  I LOVED them!  You could watch the liquid plastic pour in the mold and waited while it hardened.  I had several of them.  In fact, they are probably still in my parents' attic.  Sadly, they don't have these machines anymore.