rayna's birthday zoo trip

we had a great time (last week) visiting the zoo for rayna's birthday. she had a blast, and took a great nap, so i think it was all worth while :)

we all particularly enjoyed the new "giants of the savannah" exhibit, so we got a bunch of pictures there:

daddy and the giraffes (which licked the girls' hands)

the girls with a (new) lion

afton and an elephant (they have 6 elephants now, before there were just 2, and the enclosure is a lot bigger and nicer)

of course we spent lunch and a good long while playing in the children's area with the water :)

afton loved the water too, "falling down"

we also visited the butterfly area for the first time this year. this is afton pointing at a caterpiller. both girls can quote eric carle's The Very Hungry Caterpiller (it's one of rayna's particlar favorites)

the pygmy goats are new also, the girls loved petting them (this picture also serves as proof that we took melissa with us, thanks for joining us missy!)

and last, but not least, proof that baby malachi was there too :)

so fun! we love going to the zoo! unfortunately i forgot my camera for the rest of rayna's birthday, so i don't have any pictures (by the way, if you have any to send to me mom, i'll probably add them to the post :). but we went up to grandma's house to go swimming and have dinner and cake there. i think we all had a great day. we're sure grateful to have rayna in our family :)