Friends, the Zoo, and fun!!

The girls and I went to the zoo yesterday with some friends from our neighborhood. It was my kids first time experiencing this place that I loved when I was a child. We started out in the morning, leaving our home at 9. We reached our destination at around 10:40ish. The first place we stopped was the bathroom, having two kidlets that are finally potty trained, we had to rush inside. Then, we met the rest of our party at the waterball. What a fun time we had, seeing all the animals, and I enjoyed seeing all the changes that have happend since I was there last. I loved all the new exhibits and the old things that brought back such good memories. No longer are the days of the big monkey swimming pool thing in the middle, and only having one place to eat at, and only one lion drinking fountain!! I was so glad we were able to get there this year before school starts. We ended our ZOOFARI at about 3:30, with ouchy feet and outside stinkiness on us. It ended up being a great day with the weather, it was a little cloudy, and it sprinkled on us a little, but we are glad that it wasn't scortching sun! Thanks to Keri and Stephanie for coming along with me and my kids, it was so much fun that our girls got to play together.

Here are a few favorite photo's from our adventure!!


Grace(she's kinda hiding behind her sister), Paige, Kenadee, Julles and Jillian at our meeting spot!! Why did we not know ahead of time that they could have been just as happy playing with this for 4 hours, than walking around the zoo??? We memorized the color of everyone's shirts, and that is how we kept count of them.

Our second stop was the ghost of the bayou!! I was so excited to see this, and really... he is just really ugly!! It smelled really bad in there, and that was the first thing all the kids commented on!! After talking with Beene tonight, I found out that she thought that it was just a statue. She still to this moment doesn't believe me that it is real!!

This boat is right outside the bayoo exhibit, and the kids automatically climbed in, almost insisting on a photo op!! It was really hard to get all of them to look at me at the same time!!

Next we stopped at the Elephant Encounter! This is a show where the keepers tell you about the animal and show it off. Well, this is the other elephant that wasn't getting shown. They only show one at a time, and they have a big gate and rocks and shrubbery and things to block it off. Well, this little gal was not enjoying not being on parade. She was trying to get out, and be seen. The girls kept looking at her and started waving. The next thing I know, she started waving wtih her trunk! It was very sweet!! I had to take a picture of her to give her some fame for the moment, seeing that everyone else was watching the other one!!


The penguins were the ONE thing Julles had to see!! So we did, and she was so excited... she ran the whole way up to them! However, she didn't stay long because it was probably the stinkiest place in the whole zoo!! Their water was a tad dirty!! But, they were super cute, and the girls loved them. Kenadee kept calling them Happy Feet!!


Of course we had to get a picture of them drinking from the Lion's mouth. This was a hard task to do, but we accomplished it as best we could. We got a picture of all the kids taking a drink. Does anyone else remember the lion drinking fountain being a tad different when we were kids, like more dark in his mouth?? I don't know why, but I think it is a different one!!

From Left to Right: Beene, Kenadee, Grace, Paige and some little girl that we don't know!! This is in an animal pen. They climed right in!! Julles did not want to participate!! These girls are so much fun, they had a blast together!

The Ape house adventure is next!! The girls had a blast with the fun size things they have. We got a picture of each girl in front of this huge gorilla!! They also have handprints inside and they loved that too, but were too busy running away from me to take any pictures!!

We had to get a picture of the kids by the big bronze Gorilla, since I think everyone I know who has been to the zoo this summer, who has a blog... has posted a picture of it. So, here are mine!!

We went on the train, which was a welcome break for our tired feet. We were about to buy tickets and this nice lady came and gave us 6 of our needed 8. She just gave them to us, and left before we could say thank you!! Is it just me, or was it MUCH longer when I was a kid. I think we were on and off in 5 minutes flat, including the loading and unloading part!! But, the kids faces were priceless! This is one of the two top favorites of the trip to the zoo for both of my girls. I couldn't get any pics of the train ride, but the memory of it is carved in my head!!
After the train, Stef and her kids left us, and we were about ready to go as well. The kids were begging to go one the merry-go-round... so we went for our last hoorah before we left!! The kids loved it, but you can't tell by the look on Julles face in this picture!! Beene rode on the kangaroo, and after three different ones, Julles ended up on the colorful froggy!! What can you say, she's 3!

After having a great day with friends, eating a picnic lunch and a drippy banana creamie, we said goodbye to the Hogle Zoo, until the next time!! This is a picture of the three amigos!! They are bestest buddies, and love to be with eachother!! Thanks again girls for going with us!! Ohh and my main little man baby William, who was a total trooper in his stroller, the whole time!!