Zoorific!

Today the Columbus Zoo welcomed us with open arms. Er, Paws. Wings. Claws? Audrey and I went with Laura & Ava, and Abby & Nolan. Audrey was fascinated with most of the animals, except a few of them that decided they didn't want to move around much.

This guy was snoozing right near the glass:

Just some neat looking foliage.

We got the stare down from this gorilla:

One of Audrey's favorite books is called Goodnight Gorilla. It's about this cuddly little gorilla who steals the zoo keeper's keys and lets all the animals out of their pens, only to lead them to the zoo keeper's house so they can sleep in his bedroom.


Anyway, I have no idea if she could tell that these animals were gorillas but I kept telling her that they were. My hope is that after 47 times saying "gorilla!" she would make the connection.

This guy was having lip issues.

The Okapis are very neat animals. They are part zebra, part giraffe. I kept asking this one to turn around so I could take a nice picture, but it was too busy munching on something.


At one point, a duck came to visit the girls. It got pretty close and they were both pretty excited about it. Naturally I didn't snap the picture while it was nearer to Audrey... I was too amused watching her flail her arms at it.

Nolan being adorable!!

Audrey LOVED the aquarium. The brightly colored fish absolutely fascinated her.

The lions were a bit disappointing. Audrey recognizes lions in books and elsewhere, and roars fiercely as only adorable little girls can! These guys were napping, and hard to see from our vantage point.

The tiger was very cool though:

Mountain goats:

Bodie the Elephant was bobbing for apples. It was a lot of fun to watch! Audrey quite enjoyed it.

Laura and Ava being entertained:

Starting to get sleepy.

Last but not least, we visited the petting zoo. I thought for sure Audrey would want to pet the goats and try to ride them or something (she loves animals!), but seemed scared of them instead. This little guy was snuggling up to us and enjoyed being scratched behind the ears. Audrey didn't want anything to do with him.

Pygmy goat anarchy!

Ava has no goat phobias. :)

Nolan was the self proclaimed groomer of goats.
He made sure to comb each one.

Thanks Abby & Nolan, Laura & Ava for a wonderful time!