Birmingham Zoo

Monday we went to the Birmingham Zoo since Patrick had Veteran's Day off.  It was an easy drive down there and the weather was great.  We didn't get overheated despite the full on sunshine.  After seeing the first animal (besides birds), which was an elephant, Connor said, "Wow!"  After that he was pretty quiet, but was very into exploring the animals and going from exhibit to exhibit.  Eamon got snugged into the Ergo in the parking lot and slept until about 5 minutes before we left.

Best buds.

Giant wisteria arbor.

The lions were sunning themselves a lot.

We saw a Red River Pig, just like in Dublin!

I see you pig!

Connor asked to wear this necklace before we left.  He asks to wear
"that yellow" a lot, but I never let him since my friend Katie made it
for me, but it was a special day.  He was really happy.

Poor Connor.  It was high noon.

Connor snacking.  We technically weren't supposed to bring food in,
but that's just silly with a toddler.

 There is a train that runs through the zoo and we thought Connor would totally love it.  As soon as we got on to wait for other passengers to embark, he started sobbing.  He was miserable for about half the ride and then quieted down.  He was really happy to be off of the train when it was done. The funny thing, though, was that when we were driving home, we asked him what animals he liked and if he had fun, and he replied, "Rode a train.  It was fun."  Children are inexplicable.

At this point in the day, I was tired of taking pictures of the back of Connor's head, so I started taking more pictures of animals.  The birds were much easier to take pictures of than the large animals behind their fences and plate glass anyhow.

Flamingoes.

Blue crane.

Alligator in duck weed.

My favorite of the day, a black swan.

We got to see the hippo moving!  It also bellowed, which
Connor thought was cool.  He said, "Whoa!"