Get Giraffe Over Here

"Charlie"

Sometimes I think I write posts just so I can come up with hilarious titles.  Well hilarious to me...

Anyway, today we took our first trip to the Phoenix Zoo as a family.  I'm sorry to hear about something called "snow" in the rest of the country, but for us here in Arizona it was another gorgeous weekend in the low 70's.  Eat your hearts out New England...

I think Sabrina had fun.  She didn't say much, she just spent the day taking in all the sights, just getting real quiet and looking around with a look of concentration on her face.  Sometimes that means she has to poop, but she did that before we left so I know it was concentration.  Animals that weren't close to us and just layed there (I'm talking to you lions!) were pretty much ignored, but the "action animals" as we called them grabbed her attention.  She really liked the monkey villiage, where you walk in and the squirrel monkeys are jumping all over.  We stayed in there for a bit and she was paying close attention.  So were we, as we remembered those rumors about monkeys and what they do with poop.  I think the highlight was when she got to feed the giraffe.  We walked up to the observation deck and...

Guide:  Hi guys have you ever been this close to giraffes before?
Gregg:  No this is our first time.
Guide:  Well don't worry just stay close to me and don't try to pet them.
Bobby:  Pet them?  Oh we're not going to try to do that.
Guide:  Well some people try to do that while they're feeding them.
Bobby:  Feed them?  I thought you were going to do that.
Guide:  (pointing to Sabrina) No she's going to do it.  Now here's some lettuce.
Bobby:  She's a baby.  Gregg I didn't know--
Guide:  Here you go now don't step past this line.

At this point he put a piece of romaine lettuce in Sabrina's hand and suddenly there were about five giraffes peering over the fence at us staring at it.  I'm standing there hoping they are going to help us get her arm back when they tear it off so we can have it reattached, and if this would interfere with finalization in a few weeks.  Gregg was getting out the camera, so I guess I was the only one wondering what was wrong with this picture.  Don't get me wrong.  I love nature.  I just don't want to touch it.  Which is strange because as a kid I was the one catching snakes and frogs.  Lately, not so much.

Charlie the giraffe leaned way over and gently took the leaf of lettuce from the baby.  She couldn't take her eyes off him.

Bobby:  She likes him.  I think it's because they look like puppets.
Guide:  Ha ha ha!  I never thought of that before.  They do look like puppets.

We feed them some more, and actually it was really kind of cool.  We saw the monkeys, rhino, assorted savannah creatures, komodo dragons, and a bunch of others.  We sat and had snacks by the pond while Sabrina watched the ducks.  It was a really fun family day.  We joined the zoo so we can make some more trips back to see the rest of the animals.  On the way out, we stopped and bought a stuffed giraffe for the baby as a prize for being brave like me in the face of danger from the killer long necked beasts.  This is one of the things I've waited for.  I love my family...

Awww...