Wild Lights at the Zoo

Sam took off work a few hours early on Friday so that we could go to the zoo to see the lights. We left Columbia about 2:45 and drove to Stephanina's for St Louis pizza and pasta and then spent til 8:45 tromping around the zoo, looking at all of the amazing light displays.

I took several really terrible pictures, so I'll borrow one from the zoo website to give you an idea:

We're Bank of America customers, so there was a big discount. However, I realized once we got on the highway that we'd forgotten to pack the stroller, so we had to spend $10 renting a stroller for Leah. It was money well spent for sure -- we walked a lot!

This is us waiting in line to see Rudolph in 4D. First I took a picture of Sam and the kids. (They were not so enthusiastic about picture-taking.)

Then Sam took a picture of me and the kids. (3 out of 4 of us are looking happier about it.)

This is us walking through a tunnel of lights. (I'm choosing to believe this is Amelie's amazed face and not her gum-chewing one.) I think if it had been even 5 degrees warmer, it might have been uncomfortably crowded, but it was on the colder side and I think some folks stayed home. I packed everyone big coats and hats and gloves, but we shed our accessories as we went along. We also went on one of the very last days. There were a good amount of folks for things to be festive but not overcrowded.

More amazed face here: 

The sea lions were out and active, despite the dark water. 

One of the keepers was playing a game where the sea lion would follow his hand. 

Here's Sam and Leah waiting in line for the carousel. The kids wanted to wait in line and do all of the activities that were included with admission. We also waited in line to see the penguins (not pictured).

Oh my goodness, look at the face on James! Are you noticing a theme?

I stood by Leah on the carousel.

There were small fire pits scattered about and you could buy s'mores kits to make on your own, but they wanted a funnel cake instead. In all fairness, it was pretty good -- they put apple pie filling in the middle to dip. Amelie had a hot chocolate.

This picture is very, very blurry (as were pretty much all of the pictures I took -- I just had my camera and it was dark) but I think it shows how excited James was.