My Sanity Saver, The Zoo

I loved the zoo as a kid, but not as much as I love the zoo as an adult.  Seriously everyone, the zoo?  It's like a little haven of wonderfulness out here in the Arizona desert mixed in with some splash pads and a coffee shop.  It's perfect, perfection and such a happy place.

This Summer was a doozy.  I knew it would be.  Being in a new place without our friends and family close was going to be rough.  That coupled with the intense heat was going to make it even more seemingly unbearable.  I knew it.  So when school dismissed on May 23rd I had that sinking feeling...."Oh Lordy, what in the world am I going to do all Summer with these kids?"

So we broke down and bought ourselves a zoo membership.  WORTH. EVERY. PENNY. I am sure many of you are thinking it absolutely crazy that the outside zoo is perfect in the summer out here, so let me paint a picture.  The zoo out here is a literal oasis.  The temperature difference from the parking lot to the interior of the zoo is 15 to 20 degrees.  Large trees and lush foliage coat the zoo, misters, air conditioned exhibits and shade structures cover nearly every inch.  It offers 2 fantastic splash pads one of which has a slide and water cave to run through.  It has been designed as an oasis and is!

The zoo has been our life saver and on some days life giver to this hot, sometimes bothered, gotta keep sane Mom.  With a membership we go in the mornings for a couple of hours, see 2 or three animals, pet the sting rays, run in the air conditioned Orangutan exhibit, find the mountain lions, play in the treehouse and run around in the splash pads.  It allows us to be outside (something VERY challenging to do in the Summer out here), get our exercise and learn something.

Our favorites are petting the stingrays, playing in the treehouse, seeing all the snakes (yes....my girls love seeing the snakes...go figure), climbing the Giraffe lookout, seeing the Orangutans (there is a new baby), checking out the mountain lions and chilling at the splash pad.

Every time we go I always want to take my big camera, but the reality of being a single Mom against 2 kidlets makes it nearly impossible.  Between the jogger, shoes, juice cups, lunch, snacks, blankets (yes, you read that right), diapers AND wipes, swim diapers (2 of those. What is it with water and pooping?), swimsuits, towels, sunscreen, water, my membership card, my wallet, my phone and myself, whew, the camera is just not feasible.  Then one day Grandma came for a visit and I realized how powerful man on man defense is. :)  So I brought my big camera and captured some of the favorites from the zoo.  If you put me where Grandma is in all of these you can pretty much sum up our summer experiences!

I am SO grateful for a little desert oasis called the Phoenix Zoo and look forward to many more days spent enjoying its fun.