Matthew and I went to the zoo Sunday with our neighbors and their two kids. We have a membership, but haven't used it once this year! The kids have been twice without us, so Matthew and I were really excited to go and see what was new. A lot has changed, they are remodeling like crazy to get ready to bring lions back to the zoo, along with cheetahs and African wild dogs. We are really excited to go back soon to see the new animals next month.
Our first stop was the Lorikeets, where the kids each got a cup of nectar from Jessica to feed to birds. It wasn't long before the birds started landing on the kids looking for a sweet drink.
Rowan and Daddy:
Next we walked down to the Africa exhibits, with the kids skipping and singing "We are going to Africa" the whole way. They were so cute. We are so lucky to have kids that get along so well together and enjoy each others company! We saw lots of neat animals in Africa, and the kids ooohed and aaaaahed the whole way:
After a snack, we went and saw an elephant - he was eating a snack too! The trainer had poured some cheerios on the other side of the bars and the elephant would sweep them all in a pile and then scoop them up with his trunk. Its amazing what they can do with those things!
We went outside in hopes of seeing the baby elephant "Samundra" that was born last August, but he was well protected by the other elephants and we could only catch a glimpse of him now and then. If you enlarge this picture, you can see his tail peeking out from between the two other elephants (and the elephant in the background is peeing, a source of great delight to the children)!
The kids couldn't leave the zoo without an elephant ear! They split one between the four of them, and were soon thoroughly sugared up.
We made it through the rest of the Zoo, which is quite a feat for one day. The kids were getting cranky and tired, but as we got closer to the exit we had things like goats to love on:
And bears to measure up against:
We all had a great time, and I cant wait to do it again. I miss going to the Zoo - Rowan and I used to go all the time while Killian was in school and its a fun place to be. I want to try to go a couple more times this year, to see the lions when their exhibit opens, and for Zoolights which is always just beautiful. We need to get the most out of our membership!