Mother's Day 2011

This year for Mother's Day, we didn't have anything specific planned, so Jeremy said we could do whatever I wanted.  I chose a trip to the zoo.  (I didn't realize it at the time, but we were at the zoo last year for Mother's Day.)  I've been so excited to take Avery to the zoo this spring.  She is so excited by animals and knows what most of them are, so I knew it would be so much fun for her.  We drove to St. Louis late afternoon so Avery would have a chance to get a little nap in before the long afternoon.  It was such a nice day, sunny and warm...about 80 degrees.

The first animals we encountered were the elephants, a favorite of Avery's.  The excitement in her little voice when she realized that she was seeing real elephants was just so cute!  Once it was time to move on from the elephants, she kept asking us to see more elephants, not realizing the abundance of animals that we'd be seeing.

While not exactly what you think of when you think about zoo animals, the guinea pigs were a hit as well.  They were the only animals that Avery got to actually touch.

There was a little "tree house" inside the Children's Zoo that Avery just loved.  It was a perfect size for her to climb all over and maneuver without any help.  All of the older kids running around made her a little apprehensive, but after a little while, she seemed to adjust.

My two little meerkats! 

The zebras were as much of a hit as the elephants.  She didn't want to move on to the next animal.

We had such a fantastic time at the zoo.  I really love the age that Avery's at right now.  She's old enough to understand what's going on and enjoy the activities that we've planned, but also young enough that she gets so much excitement out of little things like the zoo.  I just love watching her little face light up at things like this!  I think the zoo just might be our new Mother's Day tradition!