Zoo Atlanta!

Much to my dismay, yesterday was my Mom and Dad's last day in town. So we decided we needed to get out and take advantage of the beautiful weather and do something fun as a family. I knew my little animal lover daughters would love a trip to the zoo. So we piled into the ol' minivan and set off for an adventure! Here are some pictures of our fun day!
Justin and Brynna setting off to find some animals to discover. Those two are a couple of peas in a pod!
We were able to sit and watch the elephants eating their hay. It was kind of funny the way they roll and wad it up as best they can with their trunk before they shove it in their mouths! My Mom said the next time we're out in Oregon we can go to Wildlife Safari and have the girls ride an elephant! I can picture Brynna being Tarzana Jane on the back of an elephant without a care, but Maryn... we'll have to wait and see!
Maryn and Papa were our adventure guides. Peanut had that map in her hand and didn't want to miss a thing! We saw a lot of the back of the girls' heads during the course of the day, because they were right up on the fences checking it all out. I love doing new things with Maryn. She has such an inquisitive mind and wants to know all about the things she sees. She led Justin up to the lion exhibit and said "Dad, tell me all about this." Wanting to know about the size of lion's teeth and how their claws retract. It was just funny, she's always soaking new stuff in. I guess that's a good thing, since she has told us again and again that she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. All this new animal knowledge should come in handy!Brynna was just too cute running around in polka dots with her monkey backpack on. I just wanted to squeeze her. This is us sneaking a moment to check out the zebra and giraffe enclosure together.
My favorite part of the day was watching the gorillas. I could have sat there for hours, they were just amazing! It made me wish I could pull a Dian Fossey, being up close with them in their habitat and just watching them. Their mannerisms were so human like, it was fascinating. Luckily we caught them at feeding time and it was a hoot seeing them catch the fruit that was being tossed down to them. Below is a picture of the big, dad gorilla, 'Taz' and one of his babies. The babies were so stinkin' cute. It was funny because the baby gorilla knew to get out of the way if Taz was showing interest in a particular piece of fruit. He was definitely the boss!
Maryn giving the gorilla statue a little love!Brynna saw the momma gorilla statue giving her baby some love and thought Coco might also like a little affection!Maryn said one of her favorite parts of the day was seeing the panda bears! They were fun to watch bumble around their enclosure eating bamboo and chilling!
We ended our day at the zoo with a trip around on the zoo train! We all had a blast and were so grateful to have a special day of fun with Nana and Papa. Living far apart is the pits, but being able to make fun memories like this is what makes it a little more bearable! We love you Nana and Papa, thank you so much for such a great time!

Lots of Love!
Justin, Sarah, Maryn and Brynna