Birthday Fun, Part One

I'm a little late in posting about Carson's actual birth day and party, but she has been super-sick lately, so pretty much everything got put on hold.  We believe she is currently on the mend.

On Carson's actual birthday, Brandon and I took her to the Atlanta Zoo.  Like many one-year-olds (it still feels weird to say that), Carson loves animals, the sounds they make, and anything new she can learn about them.  We wanted to take her to do or see something she hadn't before, so the zoo seemed like a perfect fit.  It was quite cold on December 1, but we bundled her up and gave it a shot and were so glad we did.  The zoo was practically abandoned.  I think there was only one time we were at an exhibit at the same time as someone else, so Carson got to see lots of close-up, undisturbed views of the animals, and we didn't feel rushed to get out of the way.

Unfortunately, the train and carousel weren't running, due to the cold weather--and none of the monkeys were out, which was disappointing since they are her absolute favorite animals.  However, we had a GREAT time watching Carson get excited about everything else and seeing her make connections between the live animals and what she had seen in pictures. 

Here are her top 5 animals she got to see, judging by wiggling, pointing, and leaning out of the stroller upon seeing them:

1. Lion--Carson has roared since she realized she had a voice, and granted, she roared at pretty much every animal we saw, but she got super-excited about seeing an actual lion.

2. Goats--because they let her touch them.  Do you think they drug those animals in the petting zoo???

3. Meerkats/otters--tied for 3rd place.  They were both quick-moving and entertaining.  Here's my favorite meerkat:

4. Panda

5. Elephant

We're so excited about the memories we got to make together as a family on Carson's first birthday.  We couldn't have asked for better company!
Here's a slideshow of the afternoon: