Mega Zoo Trip Post

We took advantage of our zoo membership and made a trip to the St. Louis zoo last weekend.

Amelie was most excited about the elephants, so that's where we went first. Luckily, the animals cooperated and were out doing all kinds of interesting things -- wading in the water, eating hay, and taking dust baths. 

Everyone at the zoo is pretty exited about the baby, Pria, and the elephant area was crowded. Grandma Mary got a good picture, though.

The rest of the pictures are all out of order, and there were too many of them for me to be too worried about it. (I also got to try out the new camera and figure some more things out on the trip, so I took entirely too many pictures.)

Amelie liked the penguins so much we went through twice, even though it felt really cold -- the temperature outside wasn't quite hot enough for it to be a welcome kind of cold, so she wanted the blanket.

We took the double stroller, but the kids only rode in it at the same time very briefly.

James, Mama, and the puffins.

Looking at alpacas.

This one has got to be my favorite photo from the whole trip. I think there's one of me as a child sitting in the hippo at the children's zoo, too.

A significant portion of the time at the children's zoo was spent playing in the sandbox. Nevermind that we have one at home, too.

James at the children's zoo. There were amazing jellyfish right behind him.

Amelie called this her rocket ship. 

I am fairly certain that feeding the ducks isn't technically allowed. They came right up to us while we were eating our snack. I like this sequence because there was one duck ...  

Then there were two ducks ...

Then there were three ducks!

Okay, on the "What to Know Before You Go" Zoo Rules it just says not to throw food into animal exhibits. 

Watching the bears.

Look!

We went to see the bears twice. This is the first time I've really seen them out and about -- maybe because it wasn't too terribly hot.

Guinea pigs for petting.

There were also rabbits and a hedgehog to observe up close. James got to pet the hedgehog, which was super cute and squirrelly. 

A blue snowcone to match Amelie's blue outfit. 

And all James got was his same old water cup.

We didn't go to the show this time, but Sea Lion Sound is always neat (so we went through it twice, too).

Cooling off / dancing

We loaded the double stroller up like a pack mule.

I think Amelie is explaining something about the turtle to me.

Amelie and Grandma Mary.

Are these called moon flowers? Morning glories? Hibiscus?

Up on the stone wall.

With a little help from Papaw.

Believe it or not, this might be the best one:

It looks like this is how I spent most of the trip:

James will really enjoy the zoo next year.