a day at the zoo

every year we go to the zoo for mother's day. this year felicity came too!

mommy's favorite animals are hippos and polar bears.

the polar bear at our zoo always puts on a good show for everyone :)

in this picture (below) it looks like he has a tiny head because the rest of him is under water hehehe

here is a baby giraffe celebrating mother's day with his mommy

this year we didn't make it to the lions and they are my favorite-- i was disappointed. but we did the ski lift ride over the african part of the zoo and i could see them really far out there. if you look closely you can see their little tawny bodies. 

 the new ski lift ride was really cool! i've never been skiing so hadn't ever had a ski lift experience. i was scared at first. plus i had the responsibility of taking my niece and nephew because they insisted on riding with me. i was super paranoid! but it ended up being so nice and pretty up in the air over the zoo.

 it was also cool being able to take pictures of the animals from above!

felicity and my favorite part was getting to see the red pandas! we have recently become obsessed with red pandas and were so excited to see them in real life!!

don't be alarmed-- this is only a poster of the red panda inside a tunnel, but it looks real huh!

here are the real ones. we got there just in time for feeding time!

i wana snuggle with him so badly!

 "he's so fluffy! i'm guna die!!"

i am in love with orangutans! with that beautiful fuzzy red fur and those big fat cheeks! and they are so peaceful and gentle.

 i wish the cages didn't have such tightly woven fences, it kept me from getting good pictures. oh well.

look at this baby playing in his blankie! awe!

later an older orangutan was trying to make a hammock with this blanket and it ripped in half. oops. it was funny.

look how big this boy is!!

i love his big hands. they are so human-like!

monkey see, monkey do. . .

 the little baby is hanging just below and slightly to the right of the big male. do you see his little bitty hands?

look at this beauty! i love the animals in the asian area (the red pandas, orangutans and tigers are all there.). 

when we got back to mom's felicity told molly, deedee, and emily about the animals we saw. we bought 2 red panda stuffed animals-- one for her and one for me! :) felicity also got a cool framed picture of the polar bear. 

later that evening deedee and emily gave mommy her mother's day gift.

they gave her a mini addy! mom has a special place in her heart for addy. one reason is that she reminds her of the house keeper, anna, her family had when she was growing up. that sounds bad, but anna was sometimes more of a mother to her than my mom's own mother was. mom and anna spent a lot of time together and mom adored her. so it was a meaningful gift for my mommy.