The Audubon Zoo

Yesterday was another beautiful day down in this part of the country, so Larry and I decided to take Bit Bit on a road trip to get out in God's beautiful creation. Mary Lindsey and I have both been a little under the weather this week, so we really haven't gotten outside the house much...after a while, the walls begin to close in on you! So we got the great idea to drive to New Orleans for a day. We really don't do this much, even though it is only a little over an hour drive from our home. But we got the wild idea from watching the Food Network. Larry and I love to watch the travel food shows where the hosts travel around the country to eat at famous and really good restaurants. We saw a segment this week on "Mother's" , a famous landmark in New Oleans to eat po-boys stuffed with large amounts of meat. Well, my husband is a HUGE meat fan, and when he heard they had a sandwich stuffed with 3 kinds of meat, he was interested. So the idea began to go eat lunch, and then we decided to take Mary Lindsey for her first zoo experience to The Audubon Zoo. We really had blast! She was such a good baby and seemed to enjoy the entire day. The picture above I absolutely love because she would not turn her head away from that elephant for a second, even for her daddy to take a picuture. And we all know how she loves to have her picture taken. It looks like the elephant is literally on top of us, but I promise there is a large trench and thick wall seperating us. The elephant was eating his lunch as we watched him. Mary Lindsey called the elephant "oogi oogie". We are not sure what that meant, but she kept on saying it. That might have meant "ooohhh, look how big!"

We would ask her "Mary Lindsey, what is that?" when we would approach the cage of an animal. She would put her hands and say "no?" That means "I don't know." You can see in the above picture her doing this. Larry and I were really surprised at how much she would focus on the different animals. We figured she would be somewhat indifferent, but she was amazed at how big a lot of them were. Of course, we laughed the whole time, because A LOT of the animals she called, "dogs". Whether it was a lion, or tiger, or camel, or bear, it was "dogs". How cute! I figure it is good we are exposing her to all the many animals God created now, so she does not go through life thinking dogs are it. There is one thing to say for Mary Lindsey. She is very loyal. She was so excited to see her Lucy when we got home!

Another picture of her looking at the lion saying "no?" How cute!

Here she wants the elephant to hold her. And let me say, her feelings were very hurt that we would not let that elephant hold her. She loved the elephants the most by far. We had to visit them several times.

She thought the flamingos were funny. I guess they are a very funny looking animal when you think about it. It was so much fun to watch her face and wonder what she was thinking. It is fun to experience sights with her for the first time. She is such an animated little girl.

Here we are with the camels, that she of course called "dogs".

Here is Ms. Hollywood wearing my sunglasses. It is a chore to wear sunglasses when you are with Mary Lindsey. She wants to take them off of you constantly.

And here we are at the last exhibit, the sea lions. Unfortunately, Bit Bit didn't get to experience the sea lions. She was worn out from her big day. She slept almost the entire way home. But we had a wonderful day and made wonderful memories with our precious little girl.

Please continue to pray that she would feel better each day. She has had an ear infection this week, and that seems to be better. But her cough and congestion is just hanging on. I am ready for my little girl to be her normal self again!