The Ericksons: The LA Zoo

Lala (Gma Laurie) and Jordan came down to spend the last few days of Jordan's spring break with me and Olivia. Aaron was going to be in Boston for PAX East, so Livi and I were thrilled to have them. Having them around was also a perfect excuse to finally go to the LA Zoo! I hadn't been since I was a kid, and quite frankly, I remembered nothing about it. We arrived around noon, and although we expected crowds, we were not prepared for the hour long wait to get INTO the zoo! Ridiculous! It didn't take me long to value our time and convenience at the cost of a Zoo membership. After some quick paperwork, we were on our way in!

We ate our sack lunches at a picnic table near some big pictures of the animals inside the park. As soon as Olivia saw the gorilla and tiger, her little face just lit up! We couldn't wait to show her the animals up close and personal! Even though we made our visit during her nap time, she was a trooper. She LOVED seeing the flamingos, the giraffes, the alligator, the prairie dogs, the sleeping lion, and the distant elephants, but the highlight for her was definitely seeing all the monkeys! She even got to sit right on the other side of the glass from a gorilla! She is our little monkey - so it was fun to show her other little monkeys! She even made her monkey sounds for them! After our tour around the zoo, we visited the Children's Zoo inside Muriel's Ranch with the sheep and goats. Olivia made herself at home, sitting right next to them on the ground to brush them and snuggle with them.

We were quite warm (we didn't realize how nice a day it was going to be), so we finished off our fun day with ice cream cones. Yum! We got caught up talking and didn't realize they had closed up shop! No matter, consequently we missed all the crazy traffic leaving the zoo. Olivia was tuckered out, and it didn't take her long to fall asleep - and what better evidence do you need of having a fun filled day?!