Guess where we went today?!

To the zooooooo! Why? Because it was FREE. And I'm allll about free right now.

Jacqueline (here) informed me that the zoo was open today with free admission for EVERYONE. Free, you say? Because that's exactly what I CAN afford right now. My husband's company is going through off and on layoffs, so we are desperately trying to figure out how to feed our family. And no money means no super fun things.....well, we DO fun things. We just have to be creative. And the zoo + free admission = MUCHO fun. And since the husband was working a side job today, I called up my friend, Jenny, and we took the child to the zoo. His first time ever.

Are you ready to see some monkeys?!!!! (And I just have to say, the monkey house SMELLED.)

These monkeys were totally just chillin' out, minding their own business.

Especially this guy. He wanted you to pay attention to him. Show-off.

This little guy was afraid to come out and say hello. I felt bad for him. He stayed up at the top most of the time.

Then we came upon the snow leopard. Which had signs to not tease him because he gets stressed easily. He looked stressed. He was pacing all over the place, growling and hissing. It was not his best day, that's for sure.

The child was totally into it. He loved all the animals - especially the really active ones.

I can't remember the name of this bird. I do remember it's from West Africa though.

All, the beautiful and majestic creatures. Which I can see on almost any given (winter) day at work. They are still amazing, nonetheless.

This fella was awesome. Some sort of crane. But he's a model at heart. He was quite the posing machine! He remembered to accentuate (sp? or something like that) his neck to show the long lines of his body.

And another tall fella! Zoo Boise just received a new giraffe. I'm not sure if this guy is the new one. We currently have two giraffes and they were inside by the time we got to the zoo. But we were still able to watch from the observation windows.

What does my child spy now?

Ahhhh....sleeping beauty.

And the king of the jungle. Enjoying some time in the sun.

Alas! What would inspire a child to get THIS excited?

I mean seriously - look at that.

And who wouldn't be? The tigers are amazing. There were two in there today and we saw them fight! Of course I didn't have my camera out - but a brawl was in the making. We stayed for several more minutes to see if any further action would break out. We were not so lucky.

He was slightly pleased with the tiger exhibit.

Here we are taking a ride on a kamodo (sp?) dragon. The child really wasn't sure what to think - is it real? And if not, what are we doing?

Same with the camel. He started out having a good time, but then he started crying. He was not impressed with Mr. Camel.

This is Mr. Spider Monkey....and the mess he has created.

This beast.......yuck.....was one of the last exhibits. Thank god.

Overall, everyone had a fabulous day at the zoo!