Trip to the Zoo...

This past weekend, Charles and I shared Patrick's first trip to the zoo!

Matt, LeAnna, Patrick, Charles and I went to the Memphis Zoo... We all had a great time!


Patrick had a stroller - despite Matt's best efforts otherwise - but wanted to walk instead so that he could get a close up view of all the animals...

We saw all kinds of animals, and Patrick was excited about seeing them all!
Meercats...

And other big cats in Cat Country...



We saw lions,

This lion was just waking up...

In the Asian exhibit, we found this Asian lion. Patrick went up to it and tickled it!
and tigers...

and bears - oh, my!

This polar bear was enjoying a swim and staying cool...

And we were on the lookout for Panda Bears...

We found this little panda hanging out in the tree, and Patrick went to pet it!

He was just so cute and excited to find the panda which he had been talking about all day...

Then we came upon the real pandas. They are so cute. I really liked this little one, she was content eating her bamboo breakfast...

Patrick wanted to get a really good look at the pandas!
We also saw some ostriches...

and even ostriches tending to their egg...

And we saw several different types of monkeys which were all so cute and funny...
I love watching monkeys swing around...
We saw zebras...
and elephants... and giraffes...We all enjoyed seeing the family of giraffes which Patrick counted for us!

We then learned how a giraffe manages to eat grass...
We spent quite some time watching the giraffes...

I think my favorite though was the sea lion show. We all really enjoyed it!
Patrick had a fun time watching them perform above water and also swimming in the water...

These were the sea lion girls who really liked performing - and getting fish treats!
This girl was my favorite -- she had a great personality...
The girls showed us how they could stand on their hands...
Then Andre - the huge male sea lion - showed us he could too...
We was such a character! He turned around for us, and blew bubbles (if you look closely you can see them)...

and waved to us...
He performed so many tricks, he got a little tired!
We all had fun at the zoo! Charles and I are glad we could share Patrick's first visit with him!

Sunday morning before Matt, LeAnna and Patrick headed home, we got to play a little ball with Patrick - who really likes soccer! And Patrick took an airplane ride courtesy of Air Charles!
Patrick really liked this and laughed and giggled the whole time he was in flight. He also did a really good job of giving Charles directions of where to fly!

We had a great visit and we so glad Matt, LeAnna and Patrick could come share the weekend with us!