Hogle Zoo

Ah the zoo. As a kid you loved the zoo but Hogle Zoo? Honestly I always thought it was a dumpy zoo myself full of animals stuck in tiny cages just waiting to die. Then when Jeff and I were dating we went to the zoo but fought the whole time. I'm remembering Jeff teasing me way past the point of funny and then me refusing to give in and be happy. He thought it was hilarious to make me climb aboard a statue of a rhino for a picture and then stand next to a sign that said "mute swan". I of course was furious that he continued to giggle at me but I must admit the pictures were funny. But Hogle Zoo has come a long way over the past couple of years and even Jeff was impressed with it. Still the best zoo I've ever been to is in Kansas City, MO- yes way better than even San Diego Zoo. It was seriously like going to a wild animal preserve and it took us the entire day, no joking just ask my brother Jesse who complained about how lame it was the entire time, to walk around it. We didn't even see everything. But that's beside the point, this post is all about Pearl's first trip to Hogle Zoo.

The first weeks in July are always busy for us. With Jeff's birthday and our anniversary, we always seem to have lots of news to share this time of year. In between these celebrations, Pearl of course continues to experience and learn new things. And now that my stupid paper for one of my last 3 graduate classes is finally done, I'm playing catch up on what we've been doing. Last Monday Jeff took the day off ('cause we both worked on our anniversary) and stayed home for "mamma and Pearl" day. We decided to take Pearl to Hogle Zoo since she just loves animals. What we should have done instead was take her to Pets Mart! Not only would it have been cheaper, but she thought every animal at the zoo was a doggie anyway. It was going to be super hot so we braved the zoo before Pearl's nap. Good call on our part, well at least considering I've never been to the zoo when all the animals were out and about playing. She had fun but was super tired and didn't get into it as much as I would have thought. Nor did we get the adorable pictures I had envisioned. Honestly, will this kid ever let me get a good shot of her, just once? I mean is it too much to ask to document your child's adorable smile, crooked teeth, and big hazel eyes? She was excited to see all the doggies though and continued to bark and pant at every animal she thought was a dog. But by the time we wound our way around the entire zoo, Pearl had had enough. On a side note, there was a sign in the new big cats exhibit that said only 5,000 tigers are left in the wild? WHAT? Has our world come to this? I mean, thinking that my children will never see a tiger, elephant, or polar bear except in a movie or zoo is depressing. How sad! After the zoo we went to Litza's Pizza for lunch, yummy! Too bad we can't have family day everyday!

Oh and speaking of animals, Jeff has been teaching Pearl what a rooster says. Which, by the way is NOT a zoo animal (neither are turkeys) in my opinion. Anyway, Jeff does a pretty mean impersonation of a rooster and Pearl has figured out that this animal makes a noise similar to her ear-piercing screams. The catch is though we think it's cute. She must think we have totally lost it, encouraging her to cock-a-doodle-do at us.