Sacramento Zoo

I was supposed to work but was called off (by request, he he). Matt had today off due to Presidents' Day on Monday. I knew I wanted to take advantage of our day today and it was supposed to be really nice weather so I requested we go over the hill and check out the Sacramento Zoo. We were able to pull ourselves together, pack a lunch and be on the road by nine. We were all excited to be together and out of the house, heading somewhere fun!

We made it there without any incident. The parking lot was getting full but we were able to find a spot near the zoo.

Taking a short cut through the park

entrance of the zoo

I think we arrived too early because majority of the animals were still sleeping. Let's just say, not too many were very active. We made the loop around the zoo in about an hour or so-including a potty break. I was told the zoo was pretty small but I didn't realize it was THAT small. We still had a good time showing Brielle different animals. As usual, it's something new so she wasn't too sure about it, she observed more than anything.

The monkey gave us a grooming lesson

The giraffes were eating and moving around a little.

Matt and Brielle make very cute kangaroos.

The highlight of the trip for Brielle were the fish. She LOVED them. We could have spent all day watching the fish. The first time she say them she went running up and said, "FISHES!" It was so clear I couldn't tell if it was her or another toddler that was around. Matt was close enough to know it was Brielle. The zoo brought out a new word for Brielle. How fun.

Contemplating on what we could do next

Near our the end of our loop she discovered she could climb on the fence a little. She thought this was pretty neat stuff.

Looking at the Flamingo's from Brielle's view

She saw the Tiger and said, "ROAR!"

Since it was such a nice day we decided to eat lunch in the park. Brielle enjoyed running around on the grass, picking up sticks and watching the squirrels.

Her way of telling us she was done with lunch was throwing everything off the stroller.

Peek-a-boo

After lunch I wanted to run though the zoo one more time. We were there-we might as well, right?

Brielle heading back to the zoo with Daddy.

I am so glad we went back to the zoo because Brielle was more familiar with her surroundings and was excited to see the animals. She was pointing and laughing and talking. It helped there were more animals awake. We also discovered we missed a few animals. Needless to say I am glad we went back.

Watching very noisy birds.

These guys put on a good show for us while we were there, jumping and running around.

I was not expecting to see this when they said the panda exhibit. It's a red panda bear.

Are you surprised we are back looking at the fish?

Sometimes Brielle prefers to push the stroller instead of being pushed in the stroller.

Matt recording some animals and Brielle is very interested in what he is doing.

Some lady was very kind and offered to take our family picture.

Have you ever seen a flamingo run and flap it's wings like it was trying to fly? Several of them were doing this, it was hilarious and a first for me.

We had a great time at the zoo. We decided to meet up with Julie and Zac at IKEA. They had spent most the day there looking for different items for there house. We ate some ice cream and explored the store a little. We aren't the smartest and went against traffic (they have arrows to direct you which way to go). It was warm and stuffy in the building which helped put Brielle asleep and made me anxious to get out of there.

Our last stop was IKEDA'S where we ran into the Murph family. Brielle kept begging for their food so we decided we would eat dinner there. We bought some cinnamon bread on our way out and headed home. We had such a lovely day. I am so grateful we were able to get out of town for the day and be together.