The Little Lady is a BIG fan of all things furry and wild.  One of her favorite books over the past few weeks has been My Heart is Like a Zoo, which is filled with pictures of all sorts of interesting animals.  And so inspired to bring this book to life, we decided to take a day-trip with our good friends, the Mugfords, to the NC Zoo in Asheville.

Despite the 1 1/2 hour drive, followed by a grueling trek across the vast zoo property…

(Disclaimer: Our ridiculously long walk may have been due to a certain someone, who will remain nameless, choosing the parking lot that turned out to be the farthest one from the animals we wanted to see.  Let’s just say it wasn’t Mike.  Or Cristen.  Or Josh.  All I can divulge is that the party in question had the best of intentions, that she had already bequeathed all of her brain cells to her children, and that she paid for her mistake for many days to come!)

…the Little Miss and her best bud, Mr. Mini Mug, were undaunted and had a blast running around and spotting all of the “an-mals” in their habitats.  (Ever notice how a toddler never runs in a straight line?  Yeah, try that with two Little Crazies for a whole day of sightseeing!)

Though their attention spans were short, the Little Miss and her pal seemed to find excitement in every little discovery…

A real live elephant?  That’s cool.
An elephant in my size that I can climb on?  Even better!

A living, breathing giraffe munching on leaves?  Neat-o.
A giraffe that lets me ride on him while he jumps up an down?  Let me at ’em!

You would never have guessed that the rambunctious twosome skipped their naps for the day.  Well, maybe you would have when they both melted down over a “delightful” (i.e. noisy and RUSHED) Chick-fil-a dinner on our way out of town.  But kudos to them for making it that far!

We heart the zoo!

(A final note: In true toddler-fashion, we now talk about the zoo EVERY DAY.  The Little Miss asks to see “more el-phants” and “more zee-bahs” whenever we get in the car.  Not wanting to disappoint, I’ve resorted to telling her that all of the animals are either a) hiding, b) taking naps, or c) hiding while they take naps.  My explanations are appeasing her for now, but I’m pretty sure my luck will run out one of these days.  I guess that means we better start planning our next trip to see the “an-mals”!)