July 22, 2010 – Phoenix Zoo

This morning Mommy looked out the window and it was all overcast. She checked the weather on her I-Touch and it said the high was going to be 99 (about 10 degrees cooler then it has been), cloudy but no rain predicted. She decided this morning would probably be a good time to go to the zoo. Oh boy was it still REALLY hot! When we got there Mommy was pushing me in the stroller and the only thing I was saying was, “Ewww dirty!” Pointing at the dirt and leaves on the sides of the path. Mommy kept telling me it was ok we were outside but I wasn’t at all impressed. We headed straight to the kiddie section in the back. I ran to the playground but it was full of sand and “Dirty”. I was wearing my Crocs and I DID NOT want sand in my shoes. I wanted to play but it was hard walking with my toes in the air. I also held my hands stretched out for safe measures.
After we got my feet all cleaned up we headed over to the petting zoo. I really liked petting all the goats and I made sure I pet every single one (about 20) before we left. I was careful not to miss any so a few got a second pet because they were moving around.
    
There was another playground with a cactus slide. I climbed up the steps but I didn’t want to go down because it was, “Dirty!”

I saw monkeys, chimpanzees, baboons, giraffe, elephants, rhinoceros, goats, ducks, peacocks, squirrels, zebra, deer, tortoises, a lion, lizards, iguana, pigs, and warthogs. I probably left a few out but some of the animals were hiding or sleeping so we didn’t get to see those ones. Next time I want to see the bear and the tiger. 
 
The best part was when we got to feed the giraffes. I like to call them, “Horse.” I got to feed the giraffe’s 3 pieces of lettuce. Mommy even feed them a few little treats that she held sideways so their tongue could grab it. They had long tongues and I thought that was so funny. Mommy had never seen a giraffe up close like that and she thought it was really cool. She said her new favorite animal is giraffe’s. One of the giraffe’s (the one I fed the most) was having a birthday today. She is 24 years old. That is the oldest one! Giraffe’s typically on live about 25 years. We also saw a 1 year old baby giraffe but it was just a little shorter then the other ones.

  

After we saw most of the animals Mommy put my swimsuit on and we headed for the splash pad. There are actually two now. The first one is just a small pad with the usual water sprays. It was neat because it is close to the water and the duckies were playing around there too. I think that is why we left so early because I was having fun chasing the duckies. The second splash pad is new and was super cool. It had caves and tunnels to run through with a big splash pad and small stream outside. There was a waterfall you had to go through on one side of the big cave and misters spraying a path on the other. There was also a slide to go in and a slide to come out. Inside it looked just like a cave with stalagmites and stalactites.
        
When we finished up at the splash pad Mommy got me a snow cone (actually she had to bribe me to get me to leave).
I was so pooped that I fell asleep before we were even out of the parking lot. It was the fastest I’ve ever gone to sleep getting in the car. Mommy says it was literally seconds and she didn’t even know I was tired.
When I woke up from nap I had some serious bed head going on because I went to sleep with wet hair.