Zoo in the Desert

June 30th we went to the Roos-n-More Zoo located in Moapa, Nevada. I have been wanting to go there for the longest time and I finally made it happen! Porter was soooooooooooo excited that morning when we told him where we were going. All morning he kept yelling, "Yeah! Going to the zoo!!!" He fell asleep on the way there and woke up just as we pulled into the parking lot. First thing out of his mouth: "Oh my gosh...animals!" I don't know where he gets that; we really don't say that! It was funny. I ended up being very surprised that he wasn't as excited when we were there. He had no interest in holding or even really petting the animals. I was shocked; I thought he'd love it. He acted pretty scared.
Zebra stripes! I wanted to get a picture with Porter and the zebra but he wouldn't get close, plus there was always a mob of people around each animal which was annoying. A lot of times it all felt so unorganized and drove me a little crazy. I would want to take a picture of Porter and an animal and people would be petting the animal covering up Porter. So irritating.
Porter holding a kangaroo. Why didn't he love it or smile?! When we told him we were going to the zoo I really think he expected something like the Nashville Zoo we had just visited in May. He asked several times to ride the train. =P
Baby llama eating fruit; he was cute.
One thing I would change or improve is having signs on the cages about the animals. Several times I had no idea what we were looking at; it was all very fun but Aaron and I agreed that the zoo was a wee bit ghetto. That's not to be insulting in any way, shape, or form, it's just that it was so random. I also think it would more correctly be titled "Exotic Animal Petting Zoo" instead of a "Zoo". Guess I just expected a bit more when I went.
The monkey was hilarious and a busy body.


My boys caged up!
Had no idea what this zebra-looking-donkey-horse-thing was; pretty interesting.
Porter was so funny; he kept putting his hand over his nose. I swear I didn't smell anything and I'm the one who should have the sensitive nose right now!


The camels were cool and so big!


An ostrich looking thing that could pass for a dinosaur bird.

Cute funny monkey who was jumping all over the place in his cage.
Some kind of pig just wondering around.

Some animal in the raccoon family; had an ant-eater look to it. Can't remember the name of it.
We wanted Porter to hold the snake but no way Jose! I would've loved to hold the snake but didn't take time. Snakes are awesome.

Porter thought this bird was going to steal his hat so he held on to it really tight.



My caged little monkey boy.
A horse of a dog I wanted to call "Sampson".
Some things at the zoo seemed so random. Like the fenced in area of guinea pigs and rabbits.
Otters! A coming attraction at the zoo we were told will be swimming with the otters!


One of the best parts of our visit was the "monkey/otter show". It really wasn't a show, it was just the worker taking the monkey in who was chased and teased and ganged up on by the otter's. It was pretty darn funny!
Me holding an albino kangaroo; he was so cute and snuggly! His ears reminded me of Chia's. Didn't notice until later on that Porter was holding his tail in the picture.

The armadillo Porter wouldn't touch; I did.
Porter would finally pet the baby llama. So cute! Overall we loved our visit and were glad we went. Next time I don't think we'll make the 2 hour round trip and spend the gas just for that; it would be better to do that on the way to Vegas or something. Of course they're only opened a couple days a month so would have to time it pretty well. $10/person and 2 years old and under are free.
http://www.roosnmore.com/rooshome.html

Visiting Rachael & Nashville Zoo

May 12 and 13th we went to visit our Rachy! (Aaron's sister Rachael and her boys.) My parents let us borrow one of their cars and we headed to Clarksville where Rachael lives--just an hour and a half from where my family lives. She lives off post (Ft. Campbell)--where they are stationed while Luke is deployed--in a cute house in a nice neighborhood. We had so much fun spending time with them and Porter and Eli were SO EXCITED to see each other. When we got there Thursday we talked and had plans to go to a strawberry patch to pick some fresh strawberries, but the weather decided otherwise. Storm clouds came in so Rach and I decided to take the boys to the Amish store to buy homemade jam (and chocolates and other yummy things) while Aaron was gone shopping near post. Good thing we skipped strawberries because on our way home from the store the rain came pouring down.
Rachael had made dinner plans to do hamburgers on the grill outside but everything changed to indoors. It was a scrumptious dinner of tasty hamburgers with fresh zucchini and peppers on the side (could not get enough), and strawberries (store bought) with bananas. We gave the boys a bath and attempted to let them have a sleepover but that didn't last. When the boys were all down, we (Rach, Aaron and I) watched a movie.

Apparently Eli's newest favorite thing in life right now is a flashlights. Poor Rach must be buying so many batteries.
I had fun with my Park boy paparazzi session. I just sat in front of them and took pictures. Thad was so cute! He gave me some really cute smiles. (Oops-looks like I missed fixing the red eye in a few pictures.)


Cute boys! Love the nephews.
Friday the 13th (dun dun dun!!!) we had made plans to head to Nashville (an hour away) to go to the Zoo. Of course the weather threatened rain but we decided to chance it anyway since we were all going to get in for free (passes-bought and borrowed). It rained the whole way there up until we got into the parking lot. Then it stopped! After that it was 4 hours of PERFECT weather--not hot, cloudy, but not cold at all...just nice. It was the perfect day to go to the zoo! We were so glad we went and didn't let the forecast stop us.
Rach's house; it's so cute and well decorated inside. I love what Rachael has done with it. Everything was so clean and organized. I googled and was SOOOO impressed with how organized she had the closets.
Cousin "E-why" (as Porter says it) rode with us to the zoo and we had fun singing songs. We sang the Little Einstein theme song and the boys loved doing "Blast off!"
Do you ever see a picture of yourself and go "Whoa!" This was one of those for me. I just look huge.
Porter and Eli were so cute together and loved looking at the animals. The disappointing thing was most of the animals were always so far away so we didn't get to see the big cool ones up close (like the elephants, tiger, giraffes, monkey's, etc).
Watching the "money's" go 'round n' round n' round.
King Thadeus (a nickname he currently has...ask his mom) gave me some of the funniest looks when I would take a picture of him. This face seems to be saying, "What do you think you're doin' woman?!"



Look for the blob in the way back--there are the elephants. The meerkats were so cute.
Porter and Eli were feeding the fish goldfishes. Is that comparable to cannibalism?




We brought chips and sandwiches for lunch and Aaron got the boys an ice cream to share for dessert. We were sitting there eating and we totally had a moment from the movie "Up". I was in the middle of telling Rachael something about Aaron when I saw a squirrel scurry across the path close to our table so I suddenly stopped mid-sentence and yelled "Squirrel!" They got a good laugh at my expense. As soon as it came out of my mouth I'd realized what I'd said; I must admit it was pretty funny but Aaron is still making fun of me.

Look at this King Thadeus face! Funny baby!
They have a little petting zoo which is basically just goats. I thought it was funny how they had them standing on the fence.

Right before the boys went to pet the big one he let his waters flow (peed) and then dropped bombs (pellet poops). After that the boys got to pet him but didn't get too close. Wise decision.
The wallaby's were kind of ugly. They look like kangaroos (they are in the family) but with big ugly rat tails. *shutter* Ewww.
Love flamingos. Tried to get the boys to pose by standing on one leg but the bridge next to the water distracted them.

I don't remember what this bird was called but I named him Kevin. Any guess what movie would inspire that??? (Hint: read above)


Porter looks like he's casting a spell on the crocidile (alligator? same difference) skull.
The zoo had so many fun animals and things to see but the boys kept finding things like this they wanted to play with: a traffic cone. *roll eyes* Silly boys.
A brand new addition to the zoo was a train. It's a tiny one with about 4 cars and goes in a small circle twice, passing the zebras, but it was adorable and fun. Porter and Thadeus loved it best of all.


Porter my little crocodile hunter.
The zoo has a good size, super fun, awesome playground. We did that last and I didn't think the kids would last long but they far exceeded my expectations.
Aaron put on quite a show tumbling around the mat area acting like a monkey and hanging from the beams. Porter LOVED it!
Aaron teaching Porter how to do a somersault.
Again all these great things to do and the water spout entertained the boys for half hour. They would scream and run around and they left the zoo soaked. I love the Nashville Zoo. This was our second time going (we went last year in May with Stacey and Matt) and it's so awesome. It's the perfect size (not too big to be exhausting and not too small to not be worth it), has a good variety of animals, and makes you feel like you're in the jungle and truly in nature. We really had a good time visiting Rachael and it was fun to see how grown up the boys were and how much they changed in four short months. Can't wait for Luke to get home to see his beautiful family! Coming up in a few months!