Miami Zoo with Friends

In September we planned a fun outing to the Miami Zoo with good friends.  Alex, Aubrey, Whitney, and I all had little two year olds who love animals and love exploring.  So we thought it'd be super fun to meet up with everyone at the zoo.  It's funny looking back at these photos, because they are all literally wearing the same orange and turquoise colors.  It was a pretty rainy day, but it turned out perfectly since the cloud coverage kept the temperatures down.

I loved watching their excitement as they looked inside each enclosure.

The Zoo was virtually empty that day, so the kids literally ran everywhere.  It was great to know that we didn't have to worry about losing them in crowds or them running into people.  At one point Daxton and Julian started a march and all at once each of the kids fell in behind yelling "March, march, march!"  Swinging their arms and kicking their legs up high.  I wish I would have gotten it on tape.  It was classic!

The kids thought the bear sleeping up in the tree was so funny.  They watched him for a long time wondering if he was going to fall.

My two favorite pics are below

Look at all those cute little heads...

We told them there was a monkey on my head...

We lied.

Seriously, it was so much fun watching these five kiddos run throughout the park, ask questions about the animals, and talk with each other.

I loved the mommy monkey with her little baby hanging onto her belly.

What kid can resist a puddle!?

This is the moment when Daxton and Ayla first bonded.  It's been love ever since!

Some of the other animals we loved watching...

We stopped for a fun picnic for lunch.  Daxton was so excited to climb on the animals that he hardly ate a bite.  He made up for it in his stroller later though.

Looking at the camel and water buffalos.

We saw this blue umbrella along the trail.  There had been several more along the way that when you push a button mist sprays out.  I thought this one was the same as the others we had seen, but instead of mist spraying out, it was a waterfall!  It took all of 5 seconds before each of the kids were dripping wet and running circles around the waterfall.  It all turned out fine though, because moments later a massive downpour began.  Us mommies were drenched by the time we were able to find any covering as well.

After about 20 minutes the rain died down and we continued exploring the zoo.  Our last stop were the lions.  We were so excited because we were able to see several lion cubs sitting close to their moms.  The kids were pretty cute doing their best lion impersonations.

Walking back to the car I couldn't help but look in front of me and feel gratitude for these awesome friends.  Not only for Daxton, but for me as well.

We stripped down each of the kids so they wouldn't get cold and their carseats would stay dry.  Daxton was so exhausted that after a couple snacks he fell right to sleep for the whole drive home.
It was a really fun, wet day with good friends.