Two weeks ago, we took a little trip to St. Louis and visited the zoo; we had so much fun!
This was our first family-of-four vacation. Of course, it was only two hours from home, but nonetheless, it was a great getaway for just the four of us.
Emmitt is finally getting a little easier and is walking and running, and over the past few weeks he has discovered dogs and other animals causing him to get extremely excited... we could hardly wait to see how he responded to the zoo animals... I think this first picture says it all!
They let us pet the guinea pigs... how much better can you get for your first stop at the zoo?!
And just in case you can't tell... he LOVED it!
Daddy and Lawson petting the Burrow... (looked like a donkey to me)
-There were cool games to stop and play along the way-
This was probably my favorite stop of the day - the goats!
I am quite fond of goats as we had them when I was a little girl and for some reason I simply think they are cute.
We were able to get up close and personal with them and they were so very gentle.
Lawson thoroughly enjoyed himself and was able to brush them with the provided brushes...
Emmitt so badly wanted to be brave and get down to play, but he comfortably hung out in dad's arms.
Here he is with a cute little kid; his little horns are just beginning to develop.
-Emmitt was enjoying his gentleness-
I like this picture of Lawson with the unofficially named "Calico Goat".
The aquarium area was neat... fish, otters, hippos, and more gliding effortlessly through the blue water seemed to be mesmerizing for some reason.
The elephant was a hit for the day.
Baby Kinze was no where in sight, but seeing this mama elephant was really exciting!
I believe I forgot to mention that the weather man's prediction was about 7 degrees off and it was 93 degrees vs. the forecasted 86. Some may think that 7 degrees is not that big of a deal, but let me tell ya... 93 degrees was HOT. We were extremely thankful for the mature trees providing shade, as well as the mist fans, but I was certainly wishing for that 86 degrees!
All of that to say that many animals were resting in the shade and weren't very visible to their guests. Can't say that I blame them. This was the only bear that we saw, and it is a Sloth Bear. If you look closely you will see his claws are like a sloth's and so is the shape of face/nose.
He was entertaining us with his ball and believe it or not, Emmitt was more interested in the water shooting in the air. :)
I learned a little something that day... I had no clue that penguins live in hot conditions... like 93 degrees hot. Did you? Well, I suppose they are ok as they were swimming and flipping around without any obvious cares in the world. I do like penguins, I must say.
-Emmitt particularly loved this fountain-
We rode the carousel, the lion to be exact. The "conductor" came by to see if it was ok that he was riding an animal that didn't "go up and down"... I said, "absolutely, I specifically picked this one for that very reason!"
Russ and Lawson were ahead of me, and I was disappointed that I couldn't take their picture. All of the sudden, I caught a glimpse of them in the mirror so I captured it to add to our memories! :)
We also road the train... Here Lawson is saying "choo, choo!", as he pulls the imaginary string. :)
Emmitt couldn't decide where or which direction to look... there were cool animals all around!
I didn't realize how much I liked these next few animals, they were so neat!
The stripes on the zebra were so vibrant and beautiful!
This was the only cat we could see, but we could certainly hear many more. (kind of scary)
She was hiding up high in the tree to stay cool, I'm guessing.
She finally looked right at me... isn't she beautiful? She looks so peaceful to me. I really like her... in her cage, that is.
The Zoo MAP was a big deal for Lawson. He is all about them these days. Russ has printed several off for him in the past few weeks and if we see them at the mall or a fire exit map in another store, etc. we have to stop and look at them.
He was all about this zoo map!
These camels were also really cool to me.
And lastly, the giraffes... like the zebras, their colors and shapes were beautiful! I was amazed at how beautiful they were. And SO big!!!
We saw much more, of course, but these were a few of our favorites. We did not, however, make it to the reptile house. Did I mention it was HOT? It was too hot to trudge up the big hill with our strollers to wait in line to go into the reptile house, so we detoured that area on the map and Lawson helped lead us back to the Welcome Center.
And believe it or not, we left the zoo with nothing more than the (free) zoo map and two St. Louis Zoo pressed pennies! Since Russ and I have been dating/married, we always press our pennies when it is available. We have several from the past 13 years, and now Lawson and Emmitt each have one from our first family-of-four vacation! :)
It was a great day! Lots of memories full of priceless smiles and two excited little boys! And for the record... both boys did beautifully. There was no crying, whining, fighting, none of the such. I'm thinking they might have been afraid we would leave them there!
And lastly, I couldn't believe it, but this trip to the zoo cost us a grand total of $60. The zoo is actually free. However, you can get a pass to ride the train and the carousel, go through the petting zoo, see the sting rays, and watch a 3D movie all for $10 each, excluding Emmitt because he is under two, and then all four of us ate a hot and really good kid-friendly lunch in the air conditioned restaurant for $30!
We got in and out for $60 and had passes for anything and everything possible.
We didn't get a souveineer other than the penny because number one, we don't need anything else at our house, and number two, because Lawson never saw the super big and nice gift shop, and we didn't mention it. I don't think that makes us bad parents, but I will say it made me feel really bad until Russ said, "Hey Lawson, what was your favorite part of the zoo today?" His response, in a very excited voice, "My favorite part was the train, dad!"
The train... not the animals, but the train. :)
It was a great day, and we look forward to more fun trips with our boys!
