Zoo Venture.

I'm not a pet person. I didn't grow up with pets (besides a few fish that met an untimely demise of which I have told you about before). I see the value in pets, I even like some of them, I just can't wrap my brain around how much we spend on pets when there are people starving. Also, they poop.

And poop smells. It's dirty. My friend told me she potty trained a cat (very impressive) but they still had to see the poop in the toilet. I get enough of Eli poop to make me not want to see other animal poop in a day. That's just me.

Again, I do like animals. I like to enjoy them and then leave them with their owners. On a bigger scale, that's why I like the zoo. I can enjoy the animals without having to deal with their poop, hair, smells or other bodily functions.

Actually, that's not totally true. You still smell some not pleasant odors when you are at the zoo. Which is why my favorite part of our local zoo are the koala bears! They have their own lovely little air conditioned building. It doesn't smell. They are adorable, all three of them (one just had a baby!). And did I mention it's air conditioned? BEST part of the zoo for a gal like me. We always make sure to stop by and see our koala bear friends.

Mama and her baby! I dare you to not smile at them.

Sometimes I feel like this mom... baby is hanging on her and she just wants to eat her leaves in peace.

I really wanted to get a photo of Eli in his elephant shirt with the elephants in the background. I plopped him into the stroller real quick and this is what I got:

Get me outta here!

Have I mentioned that it's hot here? And humid? Rainforest animals like it here. But those animals with, say, a colder nature, are not as enthused. They just lay there all sluggish and hope for a break in the heat. Thus, this bear:

I like this bear more because of this.

Eli and I ventured into the kangaroo area for the first time. How neat that you can go right in with them? I will say they are much cuter from a distance.

They didn't have any babies in their pouch, either.

Let's hope Eli's big hands never get gorilla-big.

The best part about our zoo trip last Friday was that Eli walked a little bit. And that means I can take photos of him from afar! I didn't realize how him not walking was hindering my photo taking! Also, I bought him shoes this week that he can (hopefully) walk in... so no more bare feet escapades.

What a big boy!

Our zoo has a plethora of amazing plants and flowers and trees, too. Such beauty!

So there's our latest zoo trip. What a gift for us to get to see these bizarre animals up close and leave all the poop there. Sorry, enough about the poop. Glad for this fun zoo less than 10 minutes from our house. Won't you come join us?

-Heather