Going to the zoo zoo zoo!

We got to visit the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia while we were down in SC which was a BLAST! This is the zoo I grew up going to, and it really is a good one! It's no San Diego zoo, but it definitely ranks higher than the Hogle Zoo in Utah. We're hoping to make it up to the DC zoo one of these days, but my working weekends has prevented some of the bigger expeditions from happening. I have a couple days off in May, though, so maybe we'll try to do it then!

But Eliza LOVED the zoo! She was wide-eyed the whole time and looking here and there for the next neat animal she could spot! Some of the loud ones freaked her out a little (mostly the howling monkeys... those things kinda freaked me out too, though), but she was really cute about it and just clung a little tighter to whomever was holding her and still wouldn't break her gaze of those funny and exotic creatures!
Eliza probably liked the barn animals best b/c she got to (hit) pet those and feel their fur and getting really close to them. Since Eliza's world usually only entails dogs and cats, I have an inkling that she might have thought that the zoo was a collection of a variety of really big and small and colorful dogs b/c she kept doing her sign for doggie. We're working on that...

Eliza especially was intrigued by the chickens, bunnies, goats and the cow. And this metal elephant that she got to ride...

(Eliza's first molar had just broken through like the day before, so a lot of her pictures this week have involved her tongue sticking out of her mouth... including in her one year old portraits-- more on that later)

(checking out the chicken coop)

(Flamingos!)

The Penguin exhibit is the COOLEST at Riverbanks. Eliza loved watching the little guys swimming and splashin' around! and I thought this picture was wild!

Eliza's favorite wild animals, though, are still the poodles and the parakeet at the Meldau zoo! She really honed her skills of hand-feeding her string cheese to the poodles during our visit. Orah and Zara were very gracious to let Eliza practice on them.

Eliza eventually just decided to join the dog pack. She's just one more hairy, four-legged floor dweller, after-all. She and Zara are like two pea's in a pod!

But I'm glad we're raising an animal lover!

*You should also check out a video that Abby posted on her blog illustrating an example of Zara's poodle brilliance!