Morning at the Zoo

 This morning I took the girls to the zoo to meet up with some friends.  I'm pretty sure we picked the warmest and muggiest day to spend at the zoo.  My sunglasses kept fogging up on me I was so hot!  I didn't let that stop me from enjoying a nice morning out with the girls.  Of course being that hot at 9:30 in the morning was a sign to me that we'd probably only last a couple of hours, which is plenty of time for us at the zoo!  Riley was excited as soon as she saw the first animal, the pink flamingos!  Then we headed over to see the elephants.  Riley and Hadley were both amused with the elephants, especially since they got to watch one get a bath.

After the elephants we headed over to see the monkeys.  Now this was some entertainment for all the kids.  The monkeys were swinging all over the place and talking like crazy.  Riley kept mimicking the monkeys and telling me that they were talking to us.  Hadley kept laughing every time she heard the monkeys talking.  We stopped at a park bench for a quick snack for the kids.  Then it was off to see the reptiles for a few of us, while Norma and Kim went over to the park so they could feed their babies(both of them have 6 month olds).  

Below is a shot of Riley trying to get as close as possible to see a frog in the water.  I'm pretty sure she would have jumped through the glass case if she could have! 

 Once we had enough of the lizards, snakes, turtles, and frogs we headed towards the park so the kids could play for a bit.  On our way there, Sivylay(one of my friends) got a call from Norma.  It turns out that her son Jonathan(Riley's age) was missing.  He was playing at the park and then she saw him walk over towards the tigers and she went to get him and he was gone.  It was a frightening thought that one of the kids had wandered off.  Kim and I stayed at the park area with the other six kids while Norma, Sivylay and the zoo staff searched for Jonathan.  After about thirty minutes he was found, thank God!  I felt so bad for Norma, but it's not the first time that he's wandered off.  I'm glad that Riley acknowledged the fact that what he did wasn't good and she knows better!  Needless to say, Jonathan was strapped in his stroller for the rest of the time at the zoo!  Since we were all able to relax now that all the children were accounted for we went over to the Keiki Zoo area which is so much fun for kids.  Riley had a blast checking out the fish and climbing through the tunnel and watching the fish swim around her.  

Of course Riley had to enter the petting zoo area.  I let her go in with Sivylay and Keerin because I stayed outside with Hadley.  Hadley has a tendency to pull and yank on dogs so I didn't think she was ready to pet the goats!  Hadley still tried to follow Riley in though!

Despite the missing child incident it was a fun filled morning at the zoo.  Both of the girls enjoyed themselves and didn't really want to leave.  After almost three hours this pregnant lady was ready to get into the air conditioning and relax a bit.  I'm glad we got to have some fun with our friends for a little while.  The next time I go to the zoo I'll be bringing my own zoo with me, three little girls!