Thursday, January 24, 2019

Zoo Day!

 Yes, I'm still playing catch up. We went to the zoo on December 28. We had so much fun! The first thing we saw was the bears. They happened to be taking a swim when we walked by. You could really tell how big they were that way. If only the water had been a bit clearer, it would have been perfect.
 Grace and the bears
 So this is the monkey named MeiMei, which is also Lauren's name. We saw the monkey, but she was too far away to get a good picture of them together.
 Katherine was so excited to see this bird at the zoo. She said it was her favorite animal (which I did not know until the zoo trip) She knew many things about it that I did not.
 She was so excited :)
 I think this was our only group picture .
 The kids loved all the statues just as much as the animals. They each claimed a panda :)
 Lauren liked this one...so cute.
 Hudson was mimicking this panda.
 Katherine loved this one :)
 WE made it to the real live pandas! They are quite cute.
 These spider monkeys were pretty cool. They just went swinging across the pathway that we were walking on.
 We saw this one up close.
 My favorite section was the tigers. I've always been a cat fan...this beauty was named Kelly. I approve ;)
 Lauren with the tiger.
 These tigers were beautiful and up close!
 They continued to come up to the glass and see what was going on.
 I didn't know I was going to catch these two males have a fight! It was crazy and only last a second!
 The teenage tigers (and 1 teenage lion)
 The leopard was beautiful...Katherine enjoyed using her new camera.

 This is what all the kids were waiting for!  We went to this zoo the day after we adopted Hudson, so it's been awhile, but they all remembered that you could feed the giraffes. The prices have gone way up in the past 3 years, but I had already told the kids we would do it.
 Grand mommy fed the giraffe, too! They have the strongest tongues.

 I love the real smiles and seeing fun that they had.
 Watch out! He's going to eat your leaves.
 Grace
 Oh, the concentration trying hold onto his branch. (This was actually the second time he got to feed them because the first time the branch was gone in a split second) Two hands!
 Regan has always loved giraffes, so it was fun when TWO giraffes both started going after her branch.
 Cheese :)
 Yes, would you like my picture?
 I think the giraffe was posing for Regan!
 This face!
 This is a sweet expression.
 Katherine and the giraffe.
 Lauren and he giraffe

 Hudson and Mommy with the giraffe
 We were ready for some lunch! It wasn't the best park food, but definitely what we needed to keep going!
 The elephant was talking to us :)
 Hudson liked the elephants.
 Katherine liked that they were talking to us :)
 Oh, the cute koalas !
 They had so many koalas! Other than the tigers, these little guys were a favorite of mine.
 This one woke up and looked straight at Lauren.  She had been trying to get hi picture for a few minutes. Perfect timing!
 Katherine fell in love with the koalas, too.  She decided to spend her Christmas money from Mamaw and Papaw to buy a koala stuffed animal.
 The zoo had a sky lift that went over the entire park.  I thought it was something that cost extra, so when we found out it was free, we hopped in line. I'm so glad we did! There are parts of the zoo that you can only see if you ride the ride (which has a glass floor by the way.
 Katherine was excited about the zebras. She said she has never seen one before. (Actually she has when she was very little, but she doesn't remember it)
 I am so glad we did this trip. The kids made so many memories!
 Grace bought some meat to feed to the teenage tigers.
 It was nearing closing time and we still had not seen the snakes yet. We were trying to hurry as fast as we could.  We were the last ones they let in before closing the exhibit for the day. I'm so glad we made it because they kids loved it!

 This was Lauren's favorite snake...I'm guessing because it was huge and because it was her favorite color.
 Again, another lucky shot. The snake "yawned" while I was takin this picture with my phone. I'm sure Regan got some great shots with her good camera, but I still haven't seen those.
 Benjamin liked this one.
 Well, the snakes hatching from the eggs were not real, but all the same...a favorite of this girl who loves all of these animals!
 Hudson liked the snakes, but said some of them were a little scary.
 hahaha!!
 It was a little weird align on a glass bottomed floor full of snakes underneath you!

 The kids found their way into the snake's den.
 The flamingoes! They were so pretty!

The girls were wiped out on the way home!
 These puppies wanted to know why we were gone all day! Such sweet little faces!!!