We are lucky enough to live in an area that has a zoo. I guess the story behind it is there once was a rich guy that donated a big plot of land to the city with the stipulation that anything built on it had to be free for the public to enjoy. The city decided to build a zoo, so we can go and see all the animals anytime we want completely free of charge. That is my kind of zoo.
We have a lot of free time this week, so I decided to take the girls and check it out. Elsie was so excited. When we pulled into the parking lot, she starting jumping up and down in her car seat and said "The zoo! Yay! Thanks Mom! You're the best mom ever!"
We picked a good day to go. It was warm and overcast; a little more humid than I would have liked, but we survived. The animals were all very active, walking around and playing. It was fun to watch them.
I think this is one of my favorite pictures of the day.
Alice looks bored in this picture, but that was just because we hadn't gone into the monkey house yet...
Alice loved the orangutans. They were being very silly and she just laughed and laughed at them. The bigger one had a sheet of fabric that he kept hiding under while the smaller one swung around above him trying to pull it off.
The giraffes were outside when we passed by. Elsie called out to them. "Hi Giraffes!" Surprisingly, one of them ambled over to say hello back. He just stared and stared at her while she carried on a conversation with him.
A second one came over too. They tried to eat the tall tree by Elsie so we got to see their super long tongues. Elsie thought it was pretty cool. She should probably get a job as a giraffe tamer.
The ostrich was very loud and kept trying to eat the fence.
So small...
The brown bear was out and pacing around. They had a sprinkler hanging down over the rocks and he liked to stand in the water.
The zoo had a really big playground/children's area. There is also a petting zoo area where the kids can feed the animals, but it was already closed by the time we got there. The play structure is huge! Elsie couldn't climb all the way to the top slide and I couldn't help her with Alice in the backpack. She could still climb pretty high all by herself and there was plenty to keep her occupied.
Alice wished she could get out and play too...
It is a fun zoo. I haven't been to a wide variety of zoos to compare it to, but it seems very nice to me. It had a good diversity of animals, wasn't too huge, and had a lot of activities for the kids. I think we will be going back a lot.
3 comments:
That sounds like so much fun. We have a free "zoo" here too, but it definitely doesn't compare to that one. The animals we have here are like old retried animals that they didn't know what to do with. We have two mountain lions, a black bear, some buffalo, deer, foxes, ponies, ducks, pigmy goats... but they are all pretty boring, it's more like a park with a few animals in it, but it is still better then nothing! Gus and I went to a Zoo in Texas and we really enjoyed it, but it was $10/each. I'm glad that you are finding things to do- especially free things! and your husband work looks really fun too!
Fun day and fun pictures. You could create a picture book for the girls with these photos and the little stories, and it would be a lasting memory. I would Love to have heard Alice laughing at the orangutans, and observed Elsie's fascination with the animals. It must have been a fun day for you, too!
Grandma Phoebe bought us a membership for the Oregon Zoo a while ago, we just live so far away we hardly ever get there! I can't wait until we are closer into the city...
Good on you for exploring your new area :)
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