I Rode An Elephant!! Seriously.

You know how I said I was excited about going to the zoo/safari?? My excitement didn't even come close to matching up with the fun we had. First things first: a safari through the open safari on what they call the 'little train'. I was expecting a not very nice zoo-just because-I don't know. What I wasn't expecting was this HUGE AWESOME zoo with every animal you could imagine. It was clean, didn't smell too bad, and was the best zoo my dad said he had ever been to. I was pretty impressed when we got there and all the animals at the safari were OUT of any kind of containment. They were just living in their habitat, not trying to get out. They had no cages, wires, fences-nothing of the sort. The little train went by, and they may have gotten up, but they didn't like try to charge of anything. The first thing we did was go through the gates. We walked to the little train, and it took off toward the 'safari'! The first animal we saw were deer. They had at least five different types of just deer alone!! With the deer were these huge white mammoth type things-I have no clue what they were. They were big slow things-not the most interesting...
I'm just going to name the rest in order, with a brief description if needed. I just realized there are WAY too many to put them into sentences.
Ok. Next: camels (they were sitting so peacefully, with expressions like they were meditating: Aummmmmm...Aummmmm) more deer, more birds, elephants, more deer (I told you there were like five types!!) brown/black bear, tiger, white tiger, zebra, rhinoceros, lion, cheetah, more zebra, ostrich, giraffe, and the deranged giraffe. I'm serious. He was standing there all tall and stuff, (I thought I was tall...) licking the tree and trying to eat it. Then he started making faces at us!! That was one messed up giraffe. Maybe his mom dropped him on his head when he was a baby. That sure would be a loooong way to fall...
Anyway, we went to the walking part of the zoo after that. The first exhibits were in the animal nursery--baby animals!! We saw baby monkeys (one with a diaper...?!), white tiger cubs, regular tiger cubs, a tiger cub and a cheetah cub play fighting, bird eggs (everyone ignored those!!), a baby zebra, baby deer, and a lot of other REALLY CUTE animals. I just wanted to pick one of those cubs up and take it home!!!
Then we got to more giraffes, and I got to feed one. It was a BIG one, and its tongue was grey. That was nasty, but feeding it was funny because it would try to pull the whole branch out of your hand. Hannah fed it and lost her branch because she wasn't ready for it to pull that hard. That was NOT the most exciting part of the trip, but we'll get to that later. After that, we went to the albino kangaroos, parrots, and the regular kangaroos. Just as we started walking away from the kangaroo exhibit, a group of guys on a school field trip wanted to take their picture with me and my family. People had been asking for pictures all day for other people, so I really didn't want one. I had to, though it wasn't as bad as last time in China when people just grabbed me. These people actually ASKED first!! After that, there was the koalas, elephants (the rides were closed at that time :( ), and the highlight of the trip- THE PANDAS!!! Hannah had been asking to see the panda bears ALL DAY and was soooo happy when we finally got there. I was excited about them, too. They are really pretty and are so big and stuff, but really all they were doing was sleeping. They all had one of their arms over their eyes, and were snoozing away. Oh, well, I guess thats about all you have to do if you're in a zoo!

This was the highlight of the trip for me-RIDING AN ELEPHANT!!! If you know me, this is probably hard to believe, maybe even if you don't know me. I RODE AN ELEPHANT!!!! It was pretty hard to convince me to, but finally I decided to go out of my comfort bubble and have some fun! I almost chickened out, so I forced myself up the steps to get on the elephant. I know this sounds sad, but I was comforted by the fact that Hannah was riding with me. It wasn't like we were riding bare-back-there was a wooden seat type thing- but it was still pretty awesome to be up THAT high. We weren't totally on our own either because there was a man driving the elephant and feeding it bananas from on the elephant's back in front of us. I think that was a run-on sentence... Anyway, we walked around the area a few minutes, then he led the elephant into the little pond. I was afraid I was going to lose my flip-flop because it was slipping. I didn't-thank goodness. The elephant sprayed my mom and dad (or tried to, at least) with it's trunk. I was all smiles the whole bumpy ride, and so was Hannah. It was AWESOME!!!!! That's the best word I can think to describe it, but I'm sure there are better. We got ice cream afterwards, which was a HUGE plus, and left. It was tiring, no doubt, but we all had fun!!

Update on Chloe Grace A.K.A. Yao Yao (that's what we have to call her because she doesn't answer to Chloe Grace): She doesn't like women or girls. She was fine before she had to get her eight shots, and it was a woman that gave them to her. I feel really bad for her, but also for me and Mama because she won't have anything to do with us. Today was a little better, but she still prefers Daddy any day. When I play with her (which is soooo much fun), she actually pays attention and likes me, but if Daddy's holding her, she won't let me or Mama touch her without pitching a royal fit. I'm not exaggerating, either. Changing her clothes and diapers are a pain in the rear because Mama does it, and Chloe Grace doesn't like that. I feel really bad for Mama. She has been to the point of tears because Chloe cries every time Mama touches her. Daddy wanted to see if they could bond if he left the room, but Chloe just cried and cried. So did me and Mama. I couldn't stand to see them, so I had to go in our other hotel room. Chloe Grace's cries were so pitiful and Mama was so sad. I couldn't stand it at all. I leaned against the bed and prayed and cried for Mama and Chloe Grace. It wasn't as bad today, so maybe it will be even better tomorrow. I really want everyone to keep Mama in their prayers because it's been really hard on her. It's been hard for me too, but she's the mom, so I guess it's worse. Please pray for them!! Thank you.
Thanks for reading--bye!!
~MaCayla
P.S. I got some great pictures of the zoo, and I'll try to post them tomorrow, but for now I need to go to bed. Bye!!