The Zoo and the Beach (aka, the most exhausting day ever)

Today we went to the Los Angeles zoo! It was such a fun day! My Aunt Karen has a membership there and goes all the time with her grandson (my cousin's son), Ari. She was so nice to get us in on her guest passes and even buy the one extra ticket we needed!!! Thanks so much Aunt Karen! It was a super fun way to hang out with her and see Ari. The weather was warm, but not too hot (although I did get a little sun burn on my shoulders). Lily was so excited to go to the zoo and see all the animals and she was not disappointed! She was such a good girl -- we were there from 10:30-3:30, so needless to say she missed her nap. But she had fun and rallied. She talked about it all the rest of the day and about all the different animals she saw.

Ari, Lily and I looking at the Meerkats

Flamingos

Ari and Aunt Karen -- although he wasn't really in his carrier that much at all. Ari was a real trooper too, I think he was tired and missing his nap but they both were having too much fun to really notice.

Lily loved her souvenir cup of water! And I loved it too since I could get free refills of water all day throughout the zoo! What a deal!

Lily wanted to push the stroller for awhile, but needed Aunt Linda's help steering

Looking at the camel. Lily said it had a butt on it's back and she was right, its humps did look like a butt!

They were so cute! Ari is 6 months younger than Lily, but they were almost the same size.

Waving Hi to the animals

Giraffes

This was how Lily looked all day -- crusty runny nose and a tear down her cheek! I think she must have gotten some sunscreen in her eye?

Right before we stopped to eat, Lily was losing momentum fast. But she ate a whole big quesadilla, nearly half of Linda's apple, and a bag of chips and suddenly was ready to party!

Looking at something with Uncle Scott (can't recall what animal)

Rhinos -- I think Lily was waving hi again

Then we even stopped to play at the play area at the zoo and Uncle Scott helped her up the rock wall!

Down the slide!

Lily, Scott, Ari and Karen looking at the Tiger

Looking at a turtle

As we were leaving Aunt Linda & Uncle Scott were so nice and bought Lily a stuffed giraffe animal that we named Martin. And my Mom bought her this awesome giraffe rolling suitcase/backpack! Thanks guys!

Group shot!

Another picture of all of us as we were leaving for the day!

Thankfully, Lily immediately passed out in the car! She only slept for 45 minutes, but it was better than nothing!

........................

I wanted to go to the beach for a bit while we were here to take pictures of Lily. Since it is suppose to rain tomorrow and be cloudy the rest of the week, I figured we'd better take advantage of such a nice evening. So we spontaneously went straight from the zoo to Sunset Beach!

It was windy and Lily was loving it! She loves the wind in her face!

She was having the most fun playing with the sand. She'd grab handfuls . . .

.... and toss them into the wind.

Leaving the beach -- notice her clenched fist? It is full of sand.

After a long day at the zoo and the beach she was filthy! But we had to stop at The Lazy Dog Cafe, one of our favorite places to eat in Huntington Beach, before finally going to home take a bath and go to bed!