Santa Barbara Zoo with the girls (and Ben)...

Today we were lucky enough to have the Strassner's join us for a day at the zoo with the MOPS gals.Today I dressed Libs in her mingo dress and I selected a darling plaid hat to accessorize the outfit. Libi had other ideas--- she went into her dress-up stuff and grabbed Daddy's hat from CADA convention. When I asked her about the hat I chose, she said, "No Mommy!" and went on her way.As usual, Libi found nearly every leaf they had to offer. She even shared with Amy, Emma, Ben and I at different points in the day.We went into the reptile house which isn't a place I normally gravitate to, but we had a bunch of boys in the group today. Libi wasn't a fan either-- she hid in the stroller and asked "Picky up" more than once.Libi had lots of fun with Missy and her MOPS pals in addition to Ben and Emma.One of the things we love about this zoo is that you can get so close to the animals!Libs really liked to act like a big kid today....and she liked being silly with Emma too :)The elephants were exersizing their trunks this morning-- kinda cool to watch!We watched a very campy show about Zooperman--the zoo hero. Do you think Libs wanted to sit with me? NOPE! She chose to sit by Amy-- I guess I know where I rate.The lions were very noisy today and they were very close to the glass....see????? I love having my camera back-- I was in total withdrawal not having it while we were in Stockton. I'm very spoiled by my amazing lens and fast response time!I tried all day to get a picture with Libs-- while we were waiting for the train I finally got her to cooperate for one.We rode the train around the park-- we had to do all these things because Amy and the kids had never been to this zoo (and Libi loves all these things!)The kids really loved the hill, but Libi only wanted to watch.Perhaps the most exciting thing we did all day was something we have never had the chance to do before... We got to feed the giraffes!!!!For a small fee the kids were given pellets to hold out for the giraffe to grab with his giant tongue.Here comes the tongue....there it is!!!! Long and purple just like Ben said it would be :)Ron said this pic looked like he was smiling at us. I love that you can see all 3 of the giraffes in one picture.We even got a group picture with our new friend. Notice that I'm holding a biscuit to taunt the poor giraffe so he will be in our photo. I was able to give it to him after we were done, so I wasn't really teasing him.I don't know why, but my little adventurer was drawn to this contraption. She needs to be just a few inches bigger to really be able to use it.The gorillas held no interest for the kids, but dancing and screaming in this room did the trick!When we stopped to see the barn animals a very nice man offered us the rest of his food to feed them.The kids were really excited to feed the goats, but they were nowhere near as fun as the giraffes.We said goodbye to the zoo and headed to the Palace Grill for lunch. We were able to meet Ron there and enjoy some cajun food. You may notice that Libi isn't in this picture-- that's because she slept through the whole lunch. The saddest part of this story is that she was then awake for the whole ride home while Emma and Ben napped! Oh well!

I think Libs said it best when we were saying goodbye to the Strassner's, "Thank you for the zoo!!"