Lions and Tigers and um...Kangaroos?

Austin officially had his first visit to the LA Zoo on Monday. I wouldn't say he was blown away by the experience, but I would say he enjoyed it about as much as the average 5.5 month old would. Although it could have been my descriptions of almost everything as either "kinda like Boomer" (Auntie Suz's dog) or "kinda like Kirby" (Uncle Ryan's bird) or "kinda like Herb" (Our sorta-ours cat) that kept him from getting horribly excited and probably confused him thoroughly. (Yes, we sorta have a cat named Herb. Sadly it's a girl cat. Brian named her. After he named her, his naming privileges have been limited to naming toys.)

Austin wasn't captivated enough to stay awake the whole time though. He slept through the giraffes, which I was bummed about because they're some of my favorites! They even had baby giraffes. And really I wanted Austin to see the real-life versions of his toy, Steve. (I told you, Daddy has toy naming rights)

The only other downside to the day was that a good number of the animals weren't out for display! We weren't sure if it was a Monday thing or what, but we didn't get to see orangutans, gorillas, otters or the elephants except for a brief glimpse of one's backside from a long distance away. But we had 2 for 1 tickets into the park, so we got our moneys worth. Had we paid an arm and a leg, we might have been more upset about it.

All in all, it was a great trip. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. We had fun with our friends - we went with Rebecca, Jack and some Northern California friends, Erin, Craig, their son Zach & Erin's little brother & sister. And I successfully took my child out on a hot sunny day and he returned without a sunburn!

Here are some cute pics from the day...

Austin and his new hat


Austin petting a really exotic animal


Austin, Jack & Zach


The whole crew - Me, Austin, Matt, Rebecca, Jack, Ceci, Erin & Zach. (Craig behind the camera)


A Beautiful Blue Eyed Boy, Zach


A cute giraffe & a kangaroo playing dead


And my worn out little buddy at the end of a good day


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Please, please, please still be praying for Stellan. He has been in SVT for the entire week, coming out of it only briefly a handful of times. So far all the meds and techniques have done very little. He's doing good considering what he's going through, but his little heart can only take this pace for so long before it will start to fail.
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