Monkey at the Zoo

Saturday we took our little monkey to the zoo! We had the best time! The weather was perfect and surprisingly it wasnt very crowded. We went later in the day after all the early birds were leaving which was a good idea but unfortunately some of the animals were taking afternoon naps. Thats ok because we got to see so many beautiful animals. The Norfolk Zoo opened a totally new Asian section this year and it was awesome, we saw asian bears, tigers, tapirs, tons of birds, baboons, orangutans, lions, elephants, giraffe, a sloth...the list could go on and on. I think Madeline liked the Giraffes the most although the peacocks, which were practically everywhere we turned including the parking lot, were upstaging everyone. They were showing off their plummage and calling very loudly to one another. We were shocked how loud they were! Maddie kept flapping her arms and imitating their calls, by the end of the day she had gotten pretty good. Besides her awesome bird calling skills, Maddie also impressed me with her bravery when she walked through the very dark reptile and nocturnal building. Maddie has developed a bit of a fear of snakes, which I totally blame on a few well placed gag rubber snakes that her cousins have, and she isnt crazy about the lights being out. So I almost suggested we skip that section altogether but then we decided to give it a go. At first she was apprehensive but once her eyes adjusted and she got a good upclose look at a really cool armadillo taking a drink of water, she was excited. So much so she ran from glass window to glass window looking for the next little creature hidden inside. It was so dark I was afraid of losing her! All in all it was a fantastic day, I couldnt have asked for a better Saturday!

Here we are entering the new Asian section,  Maddie was on safari looking for some tigers to sneak up on.

Here Maddie is getting a first look at the giraffes, she is making sure Dog Dog gets a good look too.

This little fox was trying to take a little siesta, he was so cute. Maddie kept saying that she wanted him. I wanted to take him home with us too! I totally could have put him in my purse he was so tiny.

Daniel and Maddie squinting in the sun in front of some hyraxs, also taking a siesta.
 

Here is one of those lovely peacocks strutting his stuff. I think he knew everyone was watching him, he kept calling out and shaking his feathers.

 Crazy wild pigs that looked like something from a sci-fi movie.

 One of those snakes from the reptile room, I was a bit frightened of this one.

After taking a look at all the animals, we stopped in this little grotto to rest and get I wanted to take a nice picture of Maddie in front of this lion fountain. Unfortunately at this point she had no interest in photos what so ever and she just wanted to be left alone to gather leaves from the ground and put them on a bench in a nice little line. So after a few attempts of getting a good shot, I let her do her own thing. You can see one of the leaves in her hand in the above photo and her gathering them on the bench in the below image.

I had to take a photo of her final little leaf assemblage: