the ZOO!

First of all, this is Friday, the day before the Zoo when I needed to shoot a new buddy picture of Lauren and Brooke with Evan. It is WAY easier to take a photo of him laying down on his back. Any other position and he is OFF! ;)

I LOVED the Nashville Zoo! It was an unnaturally beautiful summer day so naturally EVERYONE in Nashville said, 'Great Day for the Zoo!" ;) Well, we'd never been before even though we'd been invited many times by multiple people and we lived 3miles from it when we were first married. lol. Saturday morning we left the house to take something to my friend Lindsey's House and we planned to go shopping for nothing important. We were just looking forward to a day together till we walked outside and BAM! The reality of what a nice day hit us and Mike suggested the Zoo. I jumped on it! Matt and Nanci and the girls have passes so we called to see if they'd want to go too (seeing as they can never get enough of us and want to be anywhere we are ;) he he). They rearranged their plans too and met us there (thanks for getting us a discount!). It was packed! The parking lot was ridiculously packed and as 'small' as I heard this Zoo was, I was a little wary it would be too crowded. As I stepped into the Zoo, I was immediately impressed with the natural beauty! I couldn't believe it. The pathways were generous for the zillions of people there and all the tree growth was offering great shade and beauty (i LOVE nature). I want to marry that Zoo I loved it so much. I can't wait to go again and if any of my relatives with kids (or without) visit from California, I'm totally taking you, so get pumped. Anyway, it is a 'small' Zoo with not as many animals but it's perfect for kids with a short attention span and Moms with heeled flip flops on (didn't know we would be going to the Zoo when I was accessorising, lol). It has an Old Homestead on the property that you can tour, all the big animals anyone wants to see, a carousel (! ahh! i wanted to go on it secretly but my family would have teased me. by family, i mean Micheal - the party pooper.) big huge grass area you can relax on or eat at, misting stations for hot days, a humongous jungle gym for kids and more. The best part, you can bump into old friends! It was great to see Tony and Enghell Johnson's Family! It's probably been 2 years sadly and they only live in Smyrna (20-30min away). We also saw Shannon Hairr and Emily and the Rosiers! Kim R. finally got to meet EVAN! ;) Anyway, I can only speak for myself that I really enjoyed the company at the Zoo and the Park itself and look forward to having a membership. If you don't love the Zoo yourself, I'm sorry, it was great for me and my monkey. Here's the proof below....

Evan's inspiration...

Beautiful.

the Monkey is coming out, he's been inspired. ;)

Lynx that kept posing for everyone.

Please forgive my strike on wearing makeup but here's the crew... struttin'.

Stuteville men 'before'....

... and 'after' when the 'monkey' in Evan is unleashed! LOL! ;)

Love birds.

TWO BEAUTIFUL NIECES in a Bamboo Forest. ;)

Our Brooke didn't scratch her name in this bamboo, cause that would be a big no no/vandalism, but look what a beautiful picture of our Niece! :)

Our Monkey was literally trying to climb the bamboo. I tried to capture it on video but it's not very impressive 'live'. Still he was killing us with his energy!

First time drinking from a fountain! He REALLY did it and it was a shock that he really tried to lap it up. One thing he likes lately is when I let him have some of my water from a sport top, even though he doesn't really like the water part really. ;)

I've changed! lol.

Michael with his favorite animals in the petting part of the zoo. ;)

One last visit to the Meerkats before we leave....