The Richmond Zoo

I woke up the morning of November 1st and thought to myself, "I survived Halloween!"  My kids had three different trick-or-treating events throughout the month, plus a neighborhood party that we missed.  Does that seem like an awful lot of celebrating for a holiday that doesn't actually mean anything???

We managed to do stuff in the month of October that wasn't focused on Halloween-- we took the kids to the Richmond Zoo one gorgeous Saturday.  This zoo is basically the exact opposite of the National Zoo in DC-- it's on the expensive side and it's kind of small (DC zoo is free entrance and huge), but it's NOT BUILT ON A FREAKING HILL, so walking around looking at the animals is actually an enjoyable experience.  And because it's small, you can race around and see everything and then make it back to in time to see all your favorite animals get fed.  So, yeah, I really enjoyed this zoo.  (And in case you didn't manage to read between the lines there, I loath the National Zoo.)  And more importantly, my kids had a great time, too!  The only bad thing is that now they keep asking when we can go back and I don't think we can afford to any time soon!  Ah, the irony!

Kendra with an emu

Ryder, the king of awesome faces, shows us how scared he is of the cobra

Since one of Camille's many nicknames is Chameleon (often followed with the song, "Karma Chameleon"), we HAD to take a picture of her with one!

Seriously the biggest iguana I've ever seen.  This picture doesn't even do it justice.

This monkey sounded like an opera singer getting warmed up.  Really.

This cheetah has a golden retriever as a best friend-- see him sacked out in the other corner of his cage?

Getting to pet a giraffe is just cool.  I know, everyone loves giraffes.  But let it be known that we do, too!

I think a giraffe got spit on Craig's camera lens, because all his shots (that aren't selfies) after this have this soft foggy glow to them...

You could ride on a ski lift that went over some of the animals

Closest I've EVER managed to get to a rhino, ever.  So that was awesome.  Also, I love the face Craig pulls when he's trying to get a selfie lined up just so!

Zebras and ostrich in the background

This peacock stole the last bite of Camille's sandwich and made her cry (she didn't get hurt-- she was just scared/mad).  This was especially funny because I was terrorized by a peacock when I was about three and bolted from my mom and she had to abandon my little sister in the stroller to chase after me.  Guess it runs (ha!) in the family...

Ryder, once again, pulls awesome faces for the camera.  Also, bactrian camels are super cool and super weird.

Waiting for feeding time

Camille kept wanting to lean way forward and I spent the whole ride afraid she'd fall off the lift

It 's hard not to get excited about a Galapagos tortoise

I like Ryder's toothless smile here

Dromedary camels are cool too, I suppose, especially when they have cute babies...  Some zoo somewhere had a baby camel and named him Alexander Camelton.  Brilliant!

We had a great time.  The weather could not have been better!  And as we were leaving, I found out that I would NOT be needed to chauffeur the young women all over the stake that evening, so I got to relax at home after a long day.  So everything was perfect.

Also, it was in the 70s yesterday and today.  Happy November, y'all!!!