Lions, Tigers, & Bears, Oh My!

Maddie and Ella just attended a summer camp at our neighbor's house that was all about safari animals.

We've been planning a trip to the zoo all summer (meaning I knew it would happen sometime!) and today the timing was perfect. Plus, last week Maddie heard the song "Over the Rainbow" and I checked out "Wizard of Oz" from the library so they could hear the original by Judy Garland. So we've been saying "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" with full appreciation of it's source! (We may also have hatched a plan for Halloween costumes.)

The first animal you see is a girl-eating lion! But really, Ella was disappointed that this is the only lion at the Hogle Zoo. 

These monkeys climbed higher to see the monkeys. 

Tyler spotted one! 

Then onto the cute elephant family, although I think the big sneezing wooden elephant was more entertaining.

The gorillas seemed extremely bored. They laid on the floor, played with their toes, swung from the top, and finger painted with fecal matter. Yeah, it was gross.

The highlight of the outing was the carousel! Ella was so excited to get the zebra.

Maddie chose the ladybug... big surprise.

We took a little group shot in the mirrors.

The paintings were so fancy.

Next stop was the small animals building, although these guys were anything but small.

This cute little monkey was Maddie's favorite. It was so close to the glass even Tyler got a squeal out of it. We also saw meercats, snakes, bats, agouti, tamarin, and other crazy stuff.

My favorite was the playful tiger. He prowled over to play with his ball, and then went for a swim right in front of us.

 

The girls wanted to pose on the rock wall by the giraffes... cracked me up.

Tyler got a little reprieve from the stroller and I got a shot of my three wild animals!

The new Rocky Shores exhibit is beautiful. We spent a long time just watching the sea lions, seal, and polar bear swim in the pretty blue pools.

Last stops to pose on the statues, and we were done. It was a super fun outing and all the kids behaved well, and came home to take long naps.... success!