In March, Joshua went on a field trip to the Phoenix Zoo. I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer to be a chaperone. I had the full experience, from riding the bus to eating a sack lunch!! It was really a lot of fun.

Because we have always lived so close to Joshua's school, Joshua has never had the opportunity to ride the bus to and from school. So, when he has the opportunity, it is always a fun time for him.


I thought it was cute that my little group of boys all held hands when I told them to stick together.


As soon as the camera came out, they all got silly!



The Phoenix Zoo entails a LOT of walking... The buses park quite far from the entrance and the exhibits are really far apart. The school paid for the kids to get in to the zoo, touch the sting rays, and ride the train.

 
Joshua jumped every time he actually touched one of the sting rays. He said they were "slimy"! There were a couple little sharks in this big tank too. The boys never touched them though.

There was a petting zoo with a bunch of goats. Before we were allowed to go in, there were zoo employees that made sure everyone had their name tags hidden and shoe laces tied, etc so the goats wouldn't eat them for a snack. The kids wore plastic brushes on their hands and the goats liked being rubbed with them.

When we first got into the goat pen Joshua started walking over to this one goat on the far end of the pen. No one else was over there. As Joshua got closer the goat started peeing all over. Joshua jumped and backed up. Right as the goat was finishing, this little girl from his class started walking up and Joshua said, "Don't pet that one, he'll pee on you!" The little girl said "ewww" and walked off. Wished I'd had the camera rolling for that one! I was too busy laughing.

As well as regular farm animals there were elephants, giraffes, monkeys... The boys even got to see a mama bear and her two cubs while we were there.

There were play areas for the kids along the way. The boys all took turns sitting in the seat of this old tractor.


We stopped to refuel for lunch...

This was called the frog picnic area or something like that. There were cool paintings of frogs all over it!


There was a huge look out area over the giraffes and gazelles. There were a lot of people so I let the boys make their way up and watched them from below.





Once I had sufficiently worn out the boys (and myself!) we went for a ride on the train. If you ever go to the zoo, this is the best way to see the most with the least amount of walking. There is no way you can cover the entire zoo in a one day visit... it is just too big!


By the time we made the hike back to the bus, we were all worn out. It was a fun day and I am glad I was able to make those memories with Joshua!