"Let Me Check My Map"

This past Christmas, Grammy and Pop gave us a year membership to the Baton Rouge Zoo as one of our Christmas gifts. We waited all winter for spring to use our membership, and last weekend was perfect! We left later in the afternoon and it worked out perfectly. Eli was able to nap on the way to the zoo, and the zoo wasn't quite as busy as it would have been earlier in the day.

With our membership to the zoo, Eli also got a coupon for a free Zoo Key. The Zoo Key works in these machines pictured below. You stick it in one way and it sings a song about the animal you are viewing. If you stick it in on the other side, it gives you fun facts about the animal as well. Eli loved finding all the places he could use his Zoo Key.

We debated whether or not to bring the stroller and finally opted to not bring it. Eli was adamant about wanting to walk, and I knew that Josh and I could carry him every now and then to give his little legs a break. Plus, if we'd taken the stroller, I wouldn't have gotten sweet pictures like this...

Even though it was only the first weekend in April, the weather was still quite hot. We saw a lot of animals sleeping in the shade, panting, and doing everything they could to stay cool. We still were able to see a lot of animals though, despite the heat.

Every now and then, Eli would dawdle and Josh would continue walking ahead of us. In order to get Eli to speed up, I'd tell him to go run and catch up with Daddy. Eli would take off running and he'd yell, "Daddy! Daddy!" When he finally caught up to him, he'd place himself right in front of Josh and say, "I need tell you something!" Josh would bend down to hear what he needed to tell him and then Eli wouldn't say anything. This happened three or four times...it was very cute to watch :)

At some point in our day, I handed the map of the zoo to Eli. From that moment on, every time we asked Eli which animal he wanted to see next we'd hear him say, "I don't know. Let me check my map." He LOVED checking that map :)

Did I mention it was hot and it's only April? Wow, we'll have to go to the zoo early in the mornings when summer comes or else it will be miserable!

We headed to the side of the zoo that houses the animals found in Africa, and we were able to see a lot of animals.

The giraffes were really close eating their mid-day snack, so we had to pose for a photo op.

I love that Eli smiles for pictures now :)

After a few more animals and it was time for Eli to "check his map" again. If we're ever lost, I hope he's with me :)

We ended our day at the zoo with a trip to the petting zoo. We saw donkeys, goats, rabbits, and sheep. Eli even got to feed some sheep and goats. He loved being able to touch and pat the animals.

After about 2 1/2 hours we'd seen all the animals we wanted to see. Our final stop was a train ride around the zoo and then we loaded up to go home. It'd been a great day! I can't wait to use our zoo membership over and over again this summer! Thanks, Grammy and Pop, for a great gift!