Lions and Tigers and Bears... oh my!

This past weekend, we took Miri on her first of what we're sure will be many, many trips to the fabulous Milwaukee County Zoo. For those of you not from the area, I have to brag that Milwaukee has a truly awesome zoo. As an animal lover, there were few things I loved more than going to this zoo when I was growing up. So it was a wonderful Mother's Day gift (and early Father's Day gift for Jason) when my parents gifted us with a Zoo Pass for unlimited visits (and free parking!) for the 3 of us! Yay! Thanks again to Mom and Dad! I can tell our little girl is going to be as big of fan of the zoo as I am! Here are some pictures from our outing:
Meeting goats with Daddy and Mommy--


Seeing Petunia and Peony, the Guinea hogs (Not to be confused with guinea pigs! These porkers weigh in at 150-200 lbs each!)

Here's Giuseppi, the mini Mediterranean donkey. Miri LOVED him! We wanted to get her a stuffed animal in the zoo gift shop to commemmorate her first trip to the zoo and wanted to get a donkey since he was her favorite. Of course, she had to love one of the few creatures that the zoo doesn't have a stuffed animal of! So if anyone finds a cute stuffed donkey... let us know!

Miri also loved the elephants. In general, the "wild" animals that were in enclosures separated from the viewing area by a moat were less interesting for her. I think the increased physical distance made it harder for her to notice that there were in fact living animals over there. But not the big old elephants! She happily watched the zoo's pair of elephants, Brittany and Ruth. They were pretty active-- walking around, flapping their big ears, and picking up sticks with their trunks to munch on.

We thought Miri would love the giraffes because she is a huge fan of Sophie, her squeaky giraffe teething toy. But for whatever reason, she kept whining when we were near the giraffes until we walked away! Maybe she was frustrated that she couldn't get to them to chew on their ears, horns, and legs. :)

Miri and Mommy at Lake Evinrude at the zoo

And finally... I am including a picture of a bear. Otherwise the title of this post is a complete sham.

There you have it... Miriam's first trip to the zoo, in a nutshell!