The Elephants are Back!!!

Today we were invited to a sneak peak of the new elephant enclosure at the zoo.... membership has its privileges!!!

We made a quick stop in the nursery to check in on Ben's Komodo Dragons....

and to see the baby tortoises!!!

There was also a really old meerkat who didn't like living with all the youngsters! I think this is the most amazing photo of a meerkat ever!!!

Next we headed to Australia where we got to see koalas and I got an urgent call from Amy. In an instant I became an LA Mom chatting on the phone, while walking through a public place! It was worth it to reassure a good friend, but I promise not to make a habit of it!

On the way in to the exhibit we got to see Grandma Jones-- Aunt Chris' Mom who volunteers at the zoo. It was a really nice surprise!

There were lots of docents around to talk about the elephants and what their trunk does!

The entire exhibit was beautifully done!

We now have three elephants. Two girls...

three if you count the stuffed elephant we brought :)

and our male elephant named Billy!

There is even a waterfall for them to bathe in!

We bumped into Lisa, Cora and...

baby Violet... I love that little face!

We got to see the rhino....

before Libi threw her first hissy fit in public. I know that she was just super tired after a very full weekend, but Mommy was less than pleased!! After repeatedly whining about things I told her that if she did it once more we would leave. She called my bluff and did it one more time. I held her hand and promptly marched her out of the zoo with her crying, "I'm so sorry Mommy" the whole way out. Once at the car we talked about how we could have behaved better. Two seconds later she was out!!! Not only did she sleep the entire way home but she took a three plus hour nap!! This is a lesson to me to not over-schedule my girl. Downtime is essential for both of us :)