Memphis Zoo

Without a doubt, the thing I will miss most about Memphis (beside the awesome friends I've made here) is the zoo.  It is such an amazing zoo!  Since this month has turned out to be pretty mild, I have made sure we visit the zoo a couple times a week.  I love this because we can take our time and really enjoy each exhibit.  Some of the animals are actually pretty interactive, as we've recently discovered.  The polar bear will swim along in front of the glass window and "play" with us, and the baby sea lion, Teva, definitely plays with the kids who run along the window to her enclosure.  She will even come up to, swim upside down and just stare at you. 

Paul loves watching the big cats (not as much as me, I could stay there all day!), but his favorite animals are the giraffes.  Every time he sees a giraffe (real or picture) he gets all excited and says, "raff! raff!"  Occasionally I get him to say the full two syllables. 

hippopatamus

francois' langur

elephant

sea lion

bald eagle

zebra

flamingo

Paul and I usually go by ourselves in the mornings during the week.  We've been lucky with some "cooler" weather, making it even nicer.  We decided to all go today, and it was so much fun to have Dad there too!

snow leopard

friendly polar bear

sea lion

super fun sea lion

polar bear swim-by

He's sneaking up on us!

You can tell he is starting to get tired here.  He usually naps around 11-11:30, but I really wanted him to feed the giraffes, which doesn't begin until 11.  He loved it!  It was a great experience for him.

Paul snatched the lettuce out of my hand so he could feed the giraffe himself.  I hadn't even done it yet, but he knew just what to do.

Pretty cool giraffe buddy!

Crazy long tongue

Close one!  We almost lost Paul to the giraffe here.  (Just kidding!)