We love the Dallas Zoo!

Last Saturday, we took a trip to the Dallas Zoo...for several reasons. Mainly we needed a Saturday trip so Daddy could join in all of our zoo fun! He has never been able to go with us - because of work. So we chose Dallas - a 20 minute drive - instead of an hour to Fort Worth. Plus, we had heard they had made many updates, improvements, etc. and we wanted to see it all for ourselves. It was GREAT! We really, truly loved it. And personally, I will be taking C back as often as he wants to go this summer - no need to drive all the way to Cow Town when you have an awesome zoo so close! I'll explain our fun day as we go...

We began our day with Patrick, the Gorilla (who has two girlfriend gorillas living with him as well - one made a very brief appearance, but Patrick chased her away. The other declined to make an appearance). Oh...my...gosh...as you can see, he was up and about. And VERY close to us (there was an electric fence surrounding the gorilla enclosure). Awesome. But YIKES.

Onto the Lions. Another "oh...my...gosh." We happened to get to their "area" in time for a little display. You can see how close we are to the kings of the jungle. Their trainers were actually having them perform for raw meatballs. That is why one lion is up on the fence...what a beautiful BEAST.

The chimpanzees....adorable as always. There were SO many. They were all over the place....old, young, a tiny little baby (that was so cute - he "danced" when the trainers came out to feed him). And one pretty unhappy guy - who would "yell" and then slam himself up against the viewing glass...hitting, kicking...it was AWESOME. They were so close.

Oh the statues at the Dallas Zoo! They are everywhere...Carter managed to get pics with a lot of them!

The African savanna...BEAUTIFUL. All the animals (with the exception of the "predators") live together. It truly reminded me of how the animals live in Lion King, Madagascar 2, etc. (Yes, we have watched those movies a lot...to say the least). It was so peaceful - and there were so many views of all the animals - so much space. And the giraffes (when they come to their feeding area) are SO close you can touch them, feed them, etc. And (still) they are Carter's favorite animal - so you can imagine how much he loved that.

A petting zoo - hooray! It may only have been goats (with sheep, pigs, chickens, etc. accessible through a fence) but I was thankful there was at least goats! With a 2 year old, petting the animals is one of the thrills of the zoo! At least it was when I was little...

Creepy crocodiles peering out of the water...scary.

Viewing other kinds of monkeys...

A big rhino!

VERY clear glass separting C from these cheetahs...

Sweet boys!

Penguins! They were swimming up by the glass too - so cute.

HAD to ride the Merry-go-round before we left, of course! He picked a zebra to ride on first, then the "big monkey!" (The giraffe was taken - haha!) Although, I must say...after the experience with the monkey hitting the glass earlier in the day - I think they may be his new favorites. If you ask him what happened at the zoo, he tells you "the big monkey ran and hit the glass!" And he loves imitating it. He gets so excited. So they clearly made a bigger impression than the giraffes that day ;)