Austin Zoo

The week of Christmas was cold and rainy, and we finally had a little sun on New Years Eve.  We decided to take a trip over to the Austin Zoo and go see all the animals.  It's a smaller zoo, very "Austin" style with lots of trees and winding gravel paths, and almost all of the animals are rescues.  The first thing that we saw when we walked in were the birds --- and Jacob is not a fan!  He clung on to Adam for dear life when they squawked and would just bury his head in Adam's shoulder.  So, on to the next exhibit!

They have a petting zoo style layout for all of the goats, sheep, pigs, llama, deer, and geese.  At first Jacob was a little shy, but after he saw us feed the goat, he worked up the courage to try it himself.  And then he wanted to feed ALL the animals!  The animals were cute and Jacob was even cuter!!!

The other half of the zoo is the wild animals like wolves, tigers, jaguar, cheetah, monkeys, and other exotic species.  They were feeding the lions and so they were guarding their meat and growling REALLY loudly at anyone who stopped to look in their cage.  I have to admit, when you hear that roar, you can't help but get scared!  It was really cool to watch though, so we stayed a few minutes, and once we got used to them growling, Jacob even let out a "RRRRRoar!" back at them!

After the zoo we stopped at Mandola's Italian for lunch (we just love this restaurant!) and had a delicious meal.  Jacob sat in a booster seat instead of a high chair, and liked being able to pull right up to the table with Mama and Dada.  He's getting to be such a big boy!

After our fun-filled day, we were ready to have a cozy night in. . .dinner at the house. . .Jacob in bed. . .and Adam and I had to celebrate NYE on east coast time because we were so tired!  Good times!