I've been wanting to get around to posting about our first trip to the zoo...but wouldn't you know, I had to get a video together before I could post about it!

My mom does our taxes every year, and since we desperately need our refund - to pay a portion of an adoption loan - we decided to get everything to her quickly, so we could get that refund ASAP. So our plan for this past weekend was to gather our tax "stuff" and meet my parents at a mall in Birmingham, to pass everything along.

Late last week, I read that the weekend weather was going to be nice, and we certainly didn't want to be cooped up in a mall...so we decided to take the opportunity to visit the Birmingham Zoo on Saturday.

I'll be honest when I say that a zoo is not among my most favorite places to be...mainly because I love animals and it makes me sad to see wild animals caged. There, I said it. I'm no extremist animal-rights person, but I like the idea of animals living in their natural environment. Even if all they do is lay around for 20 hours a day...I like for them to be able to lay around in the wild and have options if they so choose to deviate from the norm and do something other than lay around.
Having said that, it was a place to be outside, and an opportunity for Iliya to see a lot of the animals that he loves looking at in books (afterall, while an African safari sounds awesome, it probably won't happen in our lifetime...so the next best thing is a zoo).

My brother also came over from Montgomery to join us, and we did have a great time. I thought Iliya might be able to go with a later-than-usual nap, but by lunchtime, he was fading FAST. We saw all the exhibits, except the petting zoo (which I think he would've enjoyed most of all) and we kept missing the train. So instead of trying to finish hitting everything, we decided to grab lunch and head back home.

Iliya was pretty over-stimulated & ended up staying awake for all (45 minutes) but the last 3 minutes of our drive home. I was able to get him out of the car and into his bed - without so much as a peep - for an hour & a half nap...

Whew!

And here is a video to give you a quick rundown of our day. Enjoy!!




And of course...THE LINK.