First Trip to the Zoo

I’m still catching up on weeks’ worth of events, so today, I’m posting about Samantha and Amelia’s first trip to the zoo a few weeks ago.

Grandma Jolene and I took the girls to the OC Zoo, a tiny little “zoo” (if you can even call it that) located within Irvine Regional Park. I’d love to go back and explore the rest of the park as there were paddle boats, bike rentals, horseback riding, and lots of playgrounds. In fact, I recognized it as I pulled up when I realized that Jake had taken me horseback riding there a few years ago for my birthday.

The best part about the zoo–the two dollar entrance fee. A bargain!

The zoo had a few “exotic” animals, like an ocelot, a cougar, and a lion, but we spent most of our time at the petting zoo portion since the girls didn’t seem to care much about animals they couldn’t actually touch.

Amelia freaked out when she realized she could go right up to the sheep and feed them. She LOVED it!

 

She was squealing with delight the entire time.

 

Samantha, on the other hand, screamed bloody murder every time I tried to put her down to pet the sheep, so I held her while we followed Amelia around. She was terrified!

Peacocks (not pictured here) were roaming around the entire park and after hearing them squawk constantly, my mom and I had an epiphany– it was exactly what Amelia sounded like when she made her little grunting noises.

We’ve concluded that Amelia was raised by peacocks in her younger months and then returned to our family when she was a few months old. I was too sleep-deprived back then to notice she was gone. We now call Amelia our little peacock– she really does sound like one!

 

One of the rare moments that Samantha let me put her down.

 

After walking around to see the other animals (which took all of ten minutes), we walked over to the train and took a leisurely ride around the park.
And enjoyed some snacks on the way.

 

The train was a huge hit!

 

With the girls’ nap schedule, we only have about 2 1/2 to maybe 3 hours of wake time before they need to go down for their afternoon nap, and the zoo was the perfect way to wear the girls out! It’s cheap, small and just the right pace for the girls right now. Plenty to see, but not too overwhelming for them.

The OC Zoo is officially Samantha and Amelia approved!

Lots of love,

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