My mother-in-law got me a John Ball Park Zoo family pass for my birthday last year (thank you again, Paula!) and since the weather has warmed up we have been able to make a couple trips to our local zoo. The first came on May 6th with our college friend Trevor and his niece Mackenzie. As we headed into the zoo, I couldn't help but smile as I watched the guys walk with the kids and thought back to the days of beer pong and tailgating ... my how the times have changed!
Our visit was a little on the chilly side, but that seemed to mean that the animals were more comfortable and active than usual. The chimpanzees, in particular, were out and about, and we all had a blast watching them.
This guy was enjoying a little lunch on the stairs and looked up just as I took his picture.
I tend to think of animals as looking all the same (chimps are chimps, camels are camels, etc.) but upon looking at these fellas I noticed so many differences between them. This guy was much more lean and muscular than the rest, but he seemed to have much less hair.
This one seemed a little doughy and tired and was perfectly content to laze away the day on the bridge.
And this one appears to have joined a gang of some sort.
We looked for the lions, but they were not overly active and it was tough to see them, much less get a picture of one. The bongos nearby, on the other hand, were out grazing the grassy area of their pen. It's difficult to explain to a child what these animals exactly were, as I don't know enough about them to liken them to something the kids would know (e.g., goats, sheep, cows), but the kids enjoyed watching them regardless.
After the Africa exhibit, we headed over to see the camels. Mackenzie was brave enough to ride this one ...
... even as the camel's baby boy looked on worriedly. Isn't he adorable?!
I just love how sleepy-happy the camels looked.
We walked past the Madagascar exhibit that wasn't open yet because of the weather and noticed a chart showing how high different animals can jump. They also had one of those things they use to test vertical jumping ability of athletes so you could see how high you can jump. As we started to leave, I noticed something spray painted on the ground with some very important information ... elephants can't jump.
As we walked on, we noticed the mountain lion had actually come out, a rarity at our zoo, likely because of the weather.
It walked around its pen for a while then, lucky us, it leapt up to the upper rocks of the habitat. It was an amazing sight, one I was glad I could snap a picture of!
The bears were up and about ...
... as was the delightfully friendly river otter.
We spent some time in the frog house, but Mollie wasn't too keen on it this time for some reason. So she and I headed outside to chill for a while, and I got to snap a couple cute pictures of my little lady.
Baylor discovered this chart of all the signal flags used by ships to convey messages and he instantly fell in love. It was really tough to pry him away from this; I think he could have spent hours pouring over it and memorizing every last detail of each flag.
As we were leaving, he spotted a zoo map he just had to inspect.
We had a great time visiting with Trevor and Mackenzie, so it didn't seem like too much of a stretch to go back again a couple weeks later. This time we went with my mom, who guessed she hadn't been to the zoo since my sister was in fourth grade! Needless to say, things were a bit different this time around.
We went early enough in the morning that we got to see some of the animals being put in their pens. Like this gorgeous macaw.
The weather was significantly warmer, and the Madagascar exhibit was finally open! The ring-tailed lemurs are always interesting to watch.
And the great horned owl kept a close eye on us.
We even got to meet a great horned owlet! It was so adorable, though I doubt it would have appreciated being called that. Just look at that scowl!
As always, the kids were adamant about not going in the petting zoo and I let them off the hook this time. However, Baylor did have to show Oma the Petticoat Rinse Station with its wicked cool water tower!
The bears were up and around in spite of the heat, using their little pool to cool off every now and then.
Of course, much to my chagrin, the kids were more interested in the vending machines behind us than they were in the bears. *sigh*
The mountain lion was up and around a bit when we first stopped by, but it soon settled in the shade to cool off.
Another animal that was back for the summer ... the flamingo!
I think the kids enjoyed seeing real flamingos; it just doesn't cut it to see illustrations of them, you know?
Both times we had a blast, so I have a sneaking suspicion we'll be back again very soon!
