I saw on TV, earlier this week, that the Niabi Zoo opened on Monday....and it has FREE admission through the end of March. So Maddox and I decided to take advantage of the fantastic weather and we traveled over to Coal Valley to visit the zoo. It was a beautiful day!! We had such a nice time. We got to see all of the animals that Maddox is able to 'point to' in her animal board books which was really validating. I think she thought we were just going to a GIANT 'Kim's house' with all the kids roaming around the parking lot and the entry gate. She was laughing, waving, pointing and shouting out before we even got up to the front gate, so excited to see all the kids. But, when we turned the corner and saw 2 HUGE elephants walking about she got even more excited. It was really phenomenal....it seemed like every time we'd come up to the fence of each of the animals' habitats they would start moving, walking, eating, yawning etc....which made for picking them out MUCH easier. She loved the giraffes. They have 4 at Niabi and you can get EXTREMELY close to them, I swear like 5 feet away....they are huge and she was mesmerized. We even got hear the lion ROAR....I don't think I've ever even heard a lion roar. It was really cool. Most of the animals were out and walking about in the nice sunshine. Maddox and I rode the carousel which she thought was slightly more fun when it was NOT going around than when it was. She clapped her hands to the music and pointed to the other kids and kicked her feet watching herself in the mirror to the inside of the carousel. BUT THEN it started moving and she kinda got the deer in the headlights look. The train doesn't start running till Friday but we are hoping to go back next week pending the weather and I'm excited for her to experience that as well. We even spotted Karla's bench!! It is right in front of the giraffe exhibit a beautiful spot to sit and remember her. Maddox was so well behaved happy, laughing, pointing and she can even say ZOO now....it is so cute. I let her out to run a bit at the end and BOY did she have a blast. I have never seen her go to fast and she tolerated the uneven grass, gravel and muddy areas too....look at the bottom of her shoes ....they are black. It is only about 20 minutes to the zoo from our house, door to door. She was pretty much asleep when we pulled into the driveway and transferred up to her bed really well. I had to wake her up at 5:30 for bath time and lasagna ( which I had managed to make while she was taking her AM nap...a double batch too...one for the freezer for when BOY Kies arrives!). I"m sure she would have slept more. It was definitely a great day and a sort of 'birthday' for Maddox. She turned 18 months today!! Can't believe it. She was so fun today. We are very blessed to have such a great little girl. I know she won't remember this day but I sure will. Thanks for the beautiful memories Maddox. When we came home we had a St. Patrick's Day package from Aunt Diane, Uncle Brian and cousin Hannah. WOW!! Could she be a more lucky kid? The pictures aren't the best because I was SOLO. It is way tough managing a moving 18 month old and the stroller all while trying to get good snap shots. Hmmmm....add on an extra set of hands and feet and things are going to get really interesting come June aren't they??
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