Zoo Trip 2014

To kick off our mini-vacation, we headed to the Denver Zoo first thing in the morning. We managed to arrive about 10 minutes before the gates opened and before the parking lots got crowded. The weather was so pleasant and we got to see some things we didn't see on previous trips (2013, 2011), like the tiger and the sea lion feeding.

The kids all enjoyed seeing the elephant suck up water with its trunk.

And then we all pretended like we had elephant-sized ears.

The girls spent some time watching some informational videos about elephants in Asia. I took this photo because I was really struck with how big they are getting when I saw how enthralled they were.

All morning, the girls kept asking to ride the carousel. We were able to keep them entertained until about lunch time, and they were so happy when it was finally time to go for the carousel ride! Karamea rode the zebra last year, so we told her that Kaylee would have her turn on the zebra first this year, and Karamea graciously rode a baboon, and was able to ride the zebra the next time they rode.

After the carousel ride, we kicked back and had our picnic lunch and the girls enjoyed a little banana phone time, too.

When we were in Bird World, we showed them a bird from New Zealand called the Kea, which is a wild parrot that often approaches people, and the bird came bounding from the back of the enclosure up to the window and held its apple slice up to our kids. They were fascinated by it.

  

Merrick chose to ride the train instead of the carousel for his second ride, and I rode with him. We had a fun little trip together.

Then the kids climbed on the covered wagon and oxen that have been at the zoo since I was a kid. We all had a wonderful time and enjoyed almost every minute! The older the kids get, the more fun we have since they can really appreciate different things about all of the animals.

Since we were just going to head to our hotel (about 15 minutes away) for nap time, we were able to stay and enjoy the zoo a little longer than normal. Merrick and Kaylee fell asleep on the way there, but then all the kids settled down nicely for their regular naps once we checked in. (I was wiped out after the long day and took a nap, too!)