Adventures at the Zoo

At the beginning of September Daxton and I had the chance to take our good friends, Sarah and Leah, to the Oakland Zoo.  Sarah has become a dear friend over the past year of moving into our ward.  She's one of the sweetest, most thoughtful and creative people I have ever met.  So when I found out that her husband had accepted an amazing job offer in Houston and that they would be moving away in mid-September, I couldn't help but be a little selfishly sad.  I'm so excited for them and this new step in their lives, but it hurts to have to say goodbye to another wonderful friend.  As many of you know, I don't handle change too well.  I tend to quickly get attached to people and I struggle with goodbyes.  Instead of focusing on how hard it was going to be to see them leave, I decided we should try to have as much fun as possible while they were still here.  Thus, the reason for our spontaneous outing at the zoo, our two night sleep over, and several shopping runs.  I sure do miss these girls, but feel so blessed to have met them and able to call them friends.  
(Plus we already have a future arrangement for our little ones :)

Our adventurous day at the zoo...

Daxton flirting with his buddy, Leah...

Love that silly grin!

It was so much fun to see these two interact.

Obviously Leah found Daxton's face quite interesting!

Giving each other loves in overalls!

Daxton was pretty excited to show off his little zoo outfit from Grandpa and Grandma Perkins.  I love him in overalls!

We had kind of a later start to our outing.  When we arrived we had to feed ourselves and then both babies before we could start exploring the zoo.  Daxton is at a fun age now, where he is starting to really be aware of his surroundings.  Obviously he doesn't know what animal he's looking at, but he can see their color and gets so excited about seeing new things.  He especially loved the tigers.  I pulled him out of the stroller for a better look and he started to laugh and giggle when he saw them.  I love watching him experience things for the first time!  I'm so glad I ended up getting a membership at the Oakland zoo, because it definitely takes us longer to go from exhibit to exhibit.  Having a membership takes the pressure of needing to see everything each time we visit.  We know we will be back again and again, so we don't need to rush.

Loved the tigers...pretty unimpressed with the giraffes.

The Oakland Zoo has a great Children's Zoo area.  There are lots of fun things for kids to climb on, look at, and touch.  There is a great petting zoo, playground, and several different animals to interact with as well.  By the time we got down to the Children's Zoo, little Daxton was taking a nap.  The boy sure does like to sleep! (Not that I'm complaining about that!)

Leah loved climbing on the turtle statues and gave some great smiles to the camera.  I'm going to miss her sweet little personality and GORGEOUS hair!

Sarah's an amazing mom.  I love how these pictures of her and Leah turned out.  I think it shows perfectly how much joy Sarah holds and how much she loves her little one.

I miss her already!

Some of the different animals we saw along the way...

Needless to say, by the time we got up to the exit, both little ones were tuckered out.  We had so much fun and loved the chance to spend the day with such great friends!