Animal Exploration!

What an adventure I had today!!! Mom woke me up this morning. She was already dressed and ready to go. I had my breakfast and then I got dressed, too. Before long, Grandmom showed up to pick us up. Aunt Mere, Colin, and Brenna were with her. Just like that, we were off on an adventure!!!

When the van stopped, we got out and Mom put me in my stroller. But she put me in like a big girl. Not in my baby seat. We were at the zoo!

I kind of remembered the zoo from the time called Christmas. We went there to see the lights. Mom said today would be different. We started out having our picture made on the lion.

Mom let me stay out of my stroller so I could see things. The first animal I saw was a grizzly bear!! Two of them, actually. I couldn't take my eyes off of them! They were so big and furry!

We walked for a bit and looked at some birds. Mom was scared of them, so we didn't stay long in any one spot. After that, we saw the kangaroos! You can go inside the kangaroos area and walk around with them. No fences or walls!! I liked that. I could see them really well!

After the kangaroos, we saw the gorillas! Mom said that sometimes they were hard to see or they weren't out, so we were lucky! They were really big!!

I rode in my stroller through a dark tunnel with little animals inside. They were hard for me to see. On the other side of the tunnel, I stopped for a snack. Then it happened. Something amazing...

ELEPHANTS!! Real, live, beautiful elephants! I couldn't stop looking at them and smiling! I was so excited!!

I even got to sit on this baby elephant! (OK, so it's not real, but it's cute!) Mom said that we will always have my picture made on this little elephant. :)

I sat on it with Colin and Brenna, too! I'm a big girl!

Up next, I saw some giraffes! I even got to feed them! I fed a baby and a big giraffe! The big giraffe licked my arm!!

After the giraffe snack, I saw zebras and ostriches. Then we walked to the Riverbanks Farm. Guess what they had in there?!? A LLAMA! Like Llama Llama Red Pajama!!! My favorite book!!! This llama was not wearing pajamas, but I'm pretty sure that it's only because it was hot.

After the llama excitement (or llama drama!), I was so tired. I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to go to sleep. Mom, Grandmom, Aunt Mere, Colin, and Brenna saw some other things. Koalas, tigers (blech!), lions, flamingos, penguins, and lemurs, Mom said. When I woke up, we were in a little store. Mom had a fascinating drink called an Icee. She let me taste it. It was great!! After the little store, we left the zoo.

We stopped at a place called Rush's for lunch. I had my lunch and then everyone else ate lunch, too. Then we made one more stop. At a Gamecock store!! The excitement was almost too much for me! Everything in there had Gamecocks on it!! I loved it!!!

After the Gamecock store, we headed home. I was SO tired...

When we got home, Mom let me have my surprises from the little zoo store. Grandmom got me an elephant and Mom got me a giraffe!! So exciting!!

I played for a while and ate a few times. I am completely exhausted from my wonderful day!! I love adventures and I love having this summer time to do fun things!! This was a great way to spend my eleventh monthiversary!!