"Wanna Wide Ephents"

Two weeks ago, while my Mother-in-Law was in town to help with my upcoming medical procedure, we made a day trip over to Memphis to check out the zoo.  It's only about an hour from here to there and I've heard lots of great things about it.  When I asked Kyndall if she wanted to go see the animals at the zoo, her eyes lit up with excitement and she said "wanna wide ephents!!"  (I want to ride the elephants!)  I wasn't sure if this would be a possibility, but I was glad she was excited nonetheless!  

So excited!!

I have two favorite exotic animals in this world---penguins and meerkats.  I used to LOVE the show "Meerkat Manor" when it was on the Discovery channel a few years back.  They're just so cute and so much fun to watch!  They're extremely smart and their social structures within their colonies are very complex.  I just love 'em!!

Kyndall was completely fascinated by them as well!

 

We stopped for a lunch break at the playground.....

 

Then it was off to see the hippo!

 

Kyndall's newest word just happens to be hippopotamus and surprisingly, it's one of the most easily understood words in her vocabulary!

 

These komodo dragons gave me the creeps, but Kyndall thought they were neat-o!

This monkey was minding his own business, just hanging out with his fellow primates doing what monkeys do.  As I walked up to the window, I knelt down low, turned my flash off and and started snapping away.  Suddenly, something caught his eye and he started walking right towards me.........

 

I think if he could've come through the glass, he would have!  He sat face to face with me and gave me some great photo ops!

 

Finally, I realized what it was that had caught his eye---my Pepsi cup!  It was sitting on the ledge of the window the whole time and he wanted some SO badly!  He just sat there starring at me as if to say "aren't you going to share??"  It attracted quite a crowd of people but eventually he got frustrated with me and walked away.  It was sweet while it lasted, though!

 

After watching the pandas for a while, I came to the conclusion that they're just LAZY!

 

We couldn't find any "ephents to wide", but we did find a camel!!

 

I was a little less than enthusiastic about the idea of riding said camel, so Nonie graciously volunteered herself.

 

Waving at her adoring fans......?!

 

Just as I suspected, the end of the camel ride brought on quite the tantrum so I quickly suggested we take an Icee break.  This girl loves Coke Icees ALMOST as much as her Mama does, so this dried the tears right up and all was well in the world!

She was even generous enough to share with me----A little bit!

 

This is what a sleepy toddler looks like........

We took a break and watched the sea lion show, which was really cute!

 

The last thing we did was take a train ride, and aside from the camel ride it was the highlight of Kyndall's day!

 

We caught a quick glimpse of my beloved penguins on the way out.......

 

By the time we hit I-40, this baby girl was passed out!

 

And she wasn't the only one!

 

Sure sign of a fun-filled day!

 

We had a great time and actually ended up buying a yearly membership, so I'm sure we'll be making several more trips to Memphis in the next few months!