Fond Memories

After the Phoenix Zoo last week and a private tour and giraffe encounter at the St. Louis Zoo today, I don't know how we'll ever be able to do a "normal" zoo visit again....we're officially spoiled.  My cousin Joe arranged an amazing tour of the St. Louis Zoo for Alexa and myself today (Damon was very disappointed to miss it), and we were lucky to have my good friend Molly and her two sons join us for the visit.  They were the perfect companions.  We had a blast!

I knew it was going to be a great day when the representative from the zoo escorted us to a golf cart so he could drive us around the zoo.  Andy (from the St. Louis Zoo) was a wonderful tour guide - - Molly and I could not believe how much knowledge he had about the zoo and its animals, although I was also impressed that Molly recalled some of "fun facts" from her days of working as a guide on the zoo railroad.  He was also great with the kids and really made the day a once-in-a-lifetime experience for each of us.

After we hopped on the cart, we headed up to the Antelope House to meet and feed the zoo's two giraffes.  They actually closed the Antelope House to the public to provide us a private experience with the giraffes - - very cool.  The zoo keeper had eucalyptus branches set out for us to hold up and allow the giraffes to munch on the leaves.  The strength of these animals is pretty amazing - Alexa quickly learned she had to hold on with all of her might to keep the giraffe from pulling the entire branch out of her hand.  Alexa and the boys had so much fun feeding the giraffes.  It was very cute to see each of them with their heads tilted up to stare at the huge giraffes, and I noticed Alexa was sticking out her tongue while she fed them as if she was prompting them to eat.  Her smile, exuberance, joy, etc... made me so happy.  It was nice to see her as a "normal" three-year-old, not asking about death or talking about topics way beyond her years.

The tour didn't stop with the giraffes; Andy drove us through the entire zoo.  Amazing.  We saw so many animals, including Alexa's mistaken tiger-camel (don't ask), Jack's favorite animal - the zebra, the new Sea Lion Sound, etc...  I think some of the other highlights were Big Cat Country - - the lions were playing and pouncing, something I'd never seen before, and an up-close visit from an alpaca as he was being led on a leash to the Children's Zoo. 

It was really an incredible experience, and Andy topped off the day with stuffed giraffes for each of the kids and pink giraffe hats for Molly and myself.  It was a wonderful day....Granty was with us in spirit.  You can't look at a giraffe's beautiful eyes and never-ending eyelashes without thinking of my precious little boy.

Quite the up-close experience with the giraffes.

The look of wonder and awe that brings so much happiness to me.

The line-up of kids feeding the two giraffes.

Absolutely loving the experience.

Mimicking the giraffes' tongues.

Two very well-fed giraffes.

Alexa's sparkle giraffe t-shirt was a hit with the zoo employees.

The alpaca took quite the liking to Alexa.

The 'Buddy Bands' from high school have been replaced.

A very happy crew after today's visit - - thank you, Cousin Joe!!!