Yesterday Abby and I had the chance to spend the day with Auntie Kenzi, so we decided to head up to the Santa Barbara Zoo. Auntie Kenzi had a quick appointment to take care of on our way up so we stopped for just a moment. As you can tell Abby was enjoying herself and seemed excited, even if she had to wait for a little while in the car. She also had doggy to keep her company as well as some silly gulls that kept flying by!

The weather in Santa Barbara was amazing! It was sunny and warm, around 70 degrees out but there was a fantastic ocean breeze. I don’t think we could have asked for a more perfect day. Because it was a weekday the zoo wasn’t too busy. We had to dodge several large groups taking a personal touo, but other then that, not too many people at all. Our first stop was at the Cabybara exhibit, where there were 4 or 5 new babies. Abby loved them and even tried to offer them a piece of her apple. I had to tell her that it was so nice of her to offer, but they had carrots and lettuce of their own to eat.

After that we stopped at the Vulture exhibit, formerly the home of the Lemurs who now live at a zoo in Colorado, which were my favorite. The Ruppell’s Griffon Vultures came straight from the Serengeti and seemed just a tad hungry! So we decided to move on.

We then stopped to visit the Flamingos. Even though I have seen them a dozen times and have a ton of pictures, its not a zoo visit without them. They are funny creatures to watch and Abby certainly love birds at the moment, so she was more then happy to stop and take a peek.

After waving goodbye to the Flamingos, we made our way down to the Gibbon Monkeys on Gibbon Island. Abby loves Monkeys and I think its because she can relate to them at times. There are usually a pair in the exhibit, one black and one white, but it seemed as though the white one was hiding in its hut. The black one decided to do a little sunbathing on his bridge and well, gave the crowd a lovely shot. Such a lazy, lazy monkey!

Next up was the Snow Leopard and for the first time in quite some time, one of the leopards was out where everyone could see him! He wasn’t doing much, mainly napping on his rock in the sun but usually the two of them are curled up in the back of their enclosure, out of sight and happy as clams. As the Snow Leopard slept, Abby and Auntie Kenzi played a bit making funny sounds. Apparently the Leopard didn’t like the sound too much because he woke up and just stared at us. However, within minutes we was back to snoozing on his rock.

After waking the Snow Leopard up, we headed towards the Penguins… one of my favorites! Luckily we made it just in time for their scheduled feeding and one of the keepers came out to talk about how the Penguins are fed. It was quite interesting! Although Abby seemed to be more interested in the water, rather then the Penguins swimming around. Auntie Kenzi had her work cut out for her, trying to keep Abby from wiggling out of her arms and into the Penguin pool. It was fun to seem a feeding, they were hungry little guys and girls and finished off an entire bucket within minutes!

After the penguin feeding we walked to the top end of the zoo. There we visited the Lions, who were being very lazy and just basking on some rocks and in the grass. Next up were the Giraffes! Abby loves the Giraffes so we certainly could not pass them up. However, most of them seemed to be residing in the back pens away from the public. Only one was out, but he was too busy chowing down on hay to care about us!

After a little time with the Giraffes we headed toward to Gorilla exhibit. Since the existence of the Gorilla enclosure opened, I have yet to see them moving around much. Most of the time we catch them while they are napping in a corner, out of view of the public. Today was different! When we walked up, one of the two males was sitting there right out where we could see him At first he had his back to us but then he turned around for all to see. He looks like he just woke up from a nap! Another male Gorilla was off eating and playing with a burlap bag in another corner, but pretty soon he came out too! Even more exciting, he walked right in front of the glass! Abby was very very close to a Gorilla… thank goodness for that thick glass. Before we moved on, the Gorillas got into a little argument and the one Gorilla stole the burlap bag from the other! What sight it was! Abby really enjoyed it!

Before leaving the zoo we made one last stop at Auntie Kenzi’s favorite place, the Elephants. At that point I decided to get Abby out of her stroller and walk around for a bit. She walked up and had a chat with a few people and then paid some attention to the elephants and the plants surrounding their enclosure. She seemed very excited to be out of her stroller and getting some exercise.

After we said goodbye to the Elephants we made our way back to the car. Abby walked with Auntie Kenzi the entire way and seemed to love every minute of it. Her legs got a great workout and Abby seemed to like the freedom. She did a great job staying with Auntie Kenzi and holding her hand. I was very proud of her.

The walk back must have done Abby in because once we packed up everything into the car and started to leave, Abby was passed out. We had barely pulled out of the parking lot and she had fallen fast asleep. Mackenzie and I decided to head to State Street for lunch, which was well deserved. We were starving! We stopped at CPK and made it most of the way through lunch before Abby woke up. It was made apparent just how tired Abby was when we got out of the car at State Street. She didn’t even flinch as I moved her from her car seat to the stroller! AFter lunch we walked around for a bit and then headed home, Coffee Bean drinks in hand!

The day was wonderful and I couldn’t have asked for anything better! It was so great to finally spend time with my dear friend Mackenzie.