A friend of ours, Brooke, is a teacher at a year round school. She is currently tracked out and asked if the boys and I would be interested in going to the zoo one day while she was out of school. I took less than 3 seconds to say YES! We checked our calendars and decided to head to the zoo on this last day of August.
They boys and I slept in to the grand time of 7:30 (I am doing dances because most days they get me up closer to 6). We had breakfast and headed out to pick up Brooke. We got to the zoo and proceeded to explore. The zoo is divided into an Africa and a North America side. I like the fun bridge leading to the Africa entrance so that is where we started. It was a very quiet day at the zoo and we really got to enjoy the animals and other things.
As you can see below, the first creature we discovered is the albino monkey! Just kidding, Graeme spotted the ostrich and zebra nearby and went in for a closer look.
Mommy and her boys at the elephant pond. We saw 4 large elephant near the water and wandering the plain nearby.
Liam and I even took a ride on one!
Next we headed over to the place we cannot miss when we go to the zoo . . . the elephant tracking helicopter. Graeme really enjoyed it today . . . the only person he had to share time with was his brother. They were the only kids in the helicopter area the whole time we were there, which is a first for us. Liam even got to fly the helicopter . . . thanks for sharing big brother!
Next we went to the feeding station, where Graeme got to feed a giraffe. It was SO COOL. And though he really wasn't supposed to, he even snuck it a sweet pat to his nose.
Brooke and I just kept saying, "Look how long its tongue is!"
Soon after the giraffes, Liam fell asleep. We headed to the central "market" area between the two sides of the zoo and had lunch. What that really translates to is that Brooke and I ate, Graeme had some juice and Liam slept through it all. Then we headed Graeme's favorite ride at the zoo, the carousel. I think this was the first time EVER I have gotten to ride with him. Brooke took pictures for us and we "roared" around.
Going with a friend is great because not only do I have another adult to talk to and to help me be in some of the pictures. Brooke also took turns pushing the boys in the stroller. (If you look closely at Liam, you can see he is still zonked out ;-)
We enjoyed trying out the power peddling that made a sculpture move. As you can see Graeme was happy to show Brooke sort of what you were supposed to do.
One of our favorite places on the North America side is the awesome bug themed play area. Graeme slid, climbed, and contemplated life.
Liam enjoyed wandering around with Brooke and his cup. He never did try out the slide but instead just enjoyed a walk amongst the mulch :-)
While we did a quicker journey through North America (it was much hotter by the afternoon and many of the animals were finding shade, too), we did enjoy seeing the black bears, some summer furred arctic foxes, the polar bear and some harbor seals. We then took the tram back to the Africa side and walked back toward the entrance by way of the gorillas, lemurs and lion. The large male gorilla (we call him Uncle Rob-my sister actually started this) was asleep and Graeme told him "night-night" and blew him kisses. The lemurs hid out in the "log" so they were hard to see, but as always we had to get a picture of the boys at the stink fight sign near their habitat.
After a great day with Brooke and exploring the zoo, we were approaching the end. As we got close, we came to the "must always take a picture here" spot. Why, you ask? Well, from the time I was great, huge, nearly ready to have Graeme visit to the zoo when Lucy was taking a picture of Mike and I here and her youngest little one accidentally pushed her big brother and sister in a zoo stroller down a hill. Ever since then, every time we go to the zoo, we stop and take a picture at this spot and reminisce about the crazy stroller ride.
Wow! What a fun day. Goodbye zoo, we can't wait to visit again and have another adventure to share.
