Mommy, Are There Mango's Here??

Today, after staying home all day yesterday, we decided to head to the zoo in Oakland. Of course, before we can get out the door, Ashleigh has to play make-up artist and put lipstick and chapstick on Addison and herself!! She even made sure that Addison made her lips in the kissy face so she could properly apply the lipstick!


It has been awhile since we have been to this zoo. The weather usually is about 10 degrees cooler in Oakland than here so we get dressed appropriately and away we go. It takes about 45 minutes or so to get there. I packed a little lunch so we could have a picnic while we were there. We go to the entrance and Addison says, before I can even get out my membership card, "Mommy, they have mangos here?" Now I am assuming she means flamingos, so I point over to the flamingos, which are the first animal we always see, and say "You mean flamingos?" And she goes " Yes. Mangos!" I had to laugh at her because she was so concerned about her "mangos!"


It really is a great zoo. They have a great children's area with all kinds of things to play on. They girls LOVE playing on all the statues and the spider web. We had lunch on one of the benches near the play area. Ashleigh loves the lily pad area. There are these lily pads in the water that you can step on and move across a little pond. She went back and forth so many times. I was afraid she was going to fall in! At one point she started hopping like a frog on them. Addison is not as graceful so I had to help her across. They have slides and all kinds of things for the kids to explore and play on.








The girls love seeing the animals. I know I wish there was a zoo around my house when I was their age. I have always loved the zoo and seeing the different animals so I am glad that they girls seem to like it as much if not more than I do. We were able to get pretty close to some of the animals today. Not everything was out and about, but a few of the animals we don't normally see seemed to make an appearance. Ashleigh was upset that the Lemurs were inside today. When Uncle Mike came for a visit in February, he bought Ashleigh a stuffed lemur and Addy a stuffed lion from here. They LOVE them! Addy won't go anywhere without her lion and Ashleigh cuddles her lemur every night! I had to share a few pictures of the animals just because I thought some of them turned out nice. We always have to make a long stop at the meerkat exhibit. That has been a favorite of the girls for a long time, especially Ashleigh. We we would go to the zoo in Houston, when Addy was a baby, Ashleigh would love to watch the meerkats for HOURS! They are pretty entertaining! They have a tunnel that they kids can crawl in and get right "face to face" with them. Addison said her favorite were the elephants. We didn't' spend much time at the elephants because they are the last thing we see and the girls were getting pretty tired. I still think we are getting over being sick.



I swear this is real! I saw it move! lol






After we finished looking at the lions, they girls decided that they didn't like they way things smelled at the zoo and it must be the camels that stink! This was their response to the stink they thought they smelled!