World Wildlife Zoo

     Last Saturday morning, we had a rare day in Arizona.  It was chilly and overcast, with the occasional rain shower.  We decided to take advantage of the weather by taking a trip to a zoo located just a few miles from our house.  As we hoped, the zoo was nearly empty!  We had the opportunity to explore at our own pace without crowds, and the girls loved it.
     The children's petting zoo was one of our favorites.  You'll see Claire trying to "kiss" the goats and llamas in the pictures below.  Matt, on the other hand, would stand, raise his arms, and yell, "Come to me, goats!" and -- no kidding -- the goats would come over and jump on him!  We laughed until our sides hurt.  Other than the deer that tried to eat our clothes, the animals were much calmer than most animals in petting zoos.
     Since the weather was cool, a lot of the animals were up and about.  A friendly monkey would imitate Matt and Audrey as they leaned from side to side, and he did tricks to try to get someone to throw him a treat.  A beautiful leopard growled at birds flying through his cage, and a larger primate literally caught a bird in its hand and ate it for a snack (thankfully, the kids were still staring at the leopard and missed this little trick).  We fed the giraffes, saw baby mammals, and enjoyed the aquarium.  All in all, it was a great day at the zoo!  (And both girls fell asleep as soon as we got back to the house for a well-deserved nap).