Zootastic!

My DD's almost 2! She'll be turning TWO this tuesday coming, and instead of a birthday party that I oh so carefully planned...

We decided to give ourselves a break from hectic party arrangements and go to zoo instead. My DD loves animals: from her collection of stuffed ones to our kitties and her Nana's puppy. She can pretty much name a common animal (along with what sound it makes) once she sees it. 

So this morning, myself, hubby, DD and her Nana took a 20 minute trip to the Toronto Zoo.

First stop was Polar Bears! We came just right on feeding and meet the zookeeper time.

This was was keeping cool doing a backstroke...

and I this one was trying to get a tan :p

while this one was being smart and got a good spot right in front of the zookeeper who fed them fish.

Boy was it hot under the sun!!! Thank God, the heat wave broke the day before...

Then, we went through the Indo-Malayan section of the zoo, where I saw animals more familiar to me (being born in the Philippines and all). Lots of icky lizards and humongous snakes here, which I didn't take pictures of because I don't particularly like them.

But these cute little and not-so-little Orangutans are adorable! 

DD liked their habitat because it was a huge jungle gym full of fun stuff and toys.

I had to take a pic of this because DD has a thing for frogs like her Grandpa.

This tiger was fast asleep... while the other ones were hiding behind rocks :(

They had to separate the girl and boy animals this year because they don't want them to mate.

We walked on this really cool boardwalk going up and around a hill with exhibits and habitats around us.

Apparently I have a habitat of my own... Yes, my real first name is Savannah.

Peacocks gone wild! This particular one walked in front of me right after I took this picture of DD and her Nana...

Don't worry I didn't get pecked on.

This elephant was totally showboating... too bad the three huge elephants scared my poor DD away.

My DD was holding on tight to my hubby with her eyes closed :(

But she got into a better mood riding this hippo...

The real thing was enormous!

I really felt like I was in Africa in this heat.

My hubby thought it would be fun to jump over the equator with my DD. Then, what do you know, the rest of the people behind us did the same after.

This is actually a hollow tree on the ground. 

Which animal does not belong? I'm guessing the goose, lol.

Monkey butt!!! LOL!

This poor boy giraffe is separated from his girlfriends :(

We were getting too hot and tired so we hopped on the train that took us through the whole Zoo!

While on the tour, my DD decided she wanted to go to the water park to cool off.

I had to run after her the whole time! I'm counting it as my workout for the day.

She liked marching around...

But mostly running through and around the sprinklers...

Man this place was packed.

Soon we left to get some popsicles and headed to the Kid's Zoo exhibit. It was mostly petting zoo kind of animals in there. No pictures were taken because all four of us were to busy licking Triple Rockets.

I wanted my DD to ride on the Animal Carousel with me...

Too bad she passed out! But even in all her tiredness she won't let go of her little Lion cub souvenir.

There was so much more that we did not see! The stingray exhibit, the aquarium, the euro-asia and australian exhibits... I guess a second trip is in order :)

Thanks Toronto Zoo for the great pre-birthday outing... My DD surely had a blast!!!