Phoenix Zoo in the "Winter"

While we were in Arizona over Christmas, we took Josh to one of his favorite places -- the ZOO! I got a membership there last December when he was only six months old because it was a fun place to walk around with friends and Josh has always loved to be outside. Back then, he really only seemed to pay attention to bird noises and the duck pond (which we could find for free in plenty of community parks around Tempe). However, since he's become a big bad toddler who knows his animal sounds and everything, the zoo offers a whole new experience!

Two of Matt's siblings (Michelle and Andrew) came along with us, so there was plenty of help with Josh. With my hands free most of the time, I got to play around with a super cool telephoto lens on my camera (a hand-me-down from my dad that I haven't had the chance to experiment with yet). So much fun! I got to pretend that I actually knew what I was doing and look all pro with my enormous lens. Ha. Someday I'll learn for real.

Here is Josh with his always lovely Auntie M.

The rumor is true...I CAN get orangutans to pose for me.

The picture below is the handiwork of my dear husband. Pretty good, eh? I love how you can see every wrinkle in his face, like a tired old man.

A natural halo for an angel boy?

Silly Uncle Andrew...Whenever Josh was in a goofy mood, he'd go to Andrew for a laugh. They became good friends this trip.

I don't think Josh ever met a guard rail he didn't climb. Half the fun of the zoo was trying to keep him from getting eaten.

This is his surprised/focused face. If ever he heard an animal sound or an airplane and needed to know exactly where it was coming from, his head would whip around with eyes and mouth wide open, ready to pinpoint the source.

Monkey butts!!! (You know you want to say it out loud and laugh right now.)

This little guy was one of my favorites. Can't you just see him walking right out of a cartoon, like he doesn't belong in real life? I haven't quite found the right name for him yet, but he's gotta be related to Rafiki somehow.

Can you tell he's Matt's brother?

Ostriches are so graceful! This little lady reminds me of the ballerinas in Disney's Fantasia. I wonder if I could Photoshop some slippers on her somehow...

Random thought: I have a strange urge to make a jigsaw puzzle out of this one with the flamingos. And what's funny is I snapped this shot by accident!

Just climbing over the fence to get closer to the tiger. No big deal.

"Grrrrrrr!!!!" By that point, Josh was getting a little tired of me wasting his time with pictures.

Michelle said it wasn't fair that I didn't have to be in any pictures, so here I am forcing her to pretend she likes me for the camera.

Did you notice that none of us was wearing any sort of sweater or jacket? I promise, these pics were taken in December. That's just how awesome the weather was. Are you jealous, my Chicago/Utah friends? Even though I'm finding snowy winters to be perfectly bearable, I think Arizona's got it right. THIS is how winter should be!