Zoo Pictures (Can never have too many!)

With school starting next week, I wanted to do one last trip to the zoo with Cadence. I'm currently struggling with a strange sense of guilt as I consider going with the youngest two and not her, a sort of "it's not fair that we get to go do this fun thing and they don't" sentiment. I'll admit it's a silly feeling, and I'll be over it soon enough. Besides, we had her kindergarten orientation tonight and I am super excited for her to start school now that I have a better idea of what's going to happen. (We find out her teacher tomorrow afternoon when we go in to do the final batch of registration paperwork).

The weather was not going to cooperate with a zoo trip anytime this week, so we packed cold water bottles and apple slices and braved the 90-degrees-feels-like-105-with-humidity weather. It was about as nasty as expected, but we came prepared and did a route to take advantage of the various air-conditioned spots. We got there right as the gates opened and high-tailed it to the far end of the zoo to work our way back to the front, doing most of our outdoor viewing before we ran out of steam and recharged in the various a/c cooled buildings near the front at the end of our visit. For about twenty minutes, it looked like the storm overhead might break early, but it just rumbled at us, spit a few drops and sat there.

Playing at the "African Village". They recently installed a "primitive shower" which I tricked the girls into reading a sign under the showerhead before pushing the button to douse them with water. Mwahaha.

Taking our first break at the chimpanzee house. The chimps kept wandering close to the window to pick up stray pieces of broccoli.

Exploring the prairie dog tunnels. Eventually I took Connor in as well and we got an up-close look at the animals.

This tortoise was looking for some food and kept sticking his mouth out.

Super quick pictures before I snagged Connor back before he could put his fingers in snapping reach.

Another break at the playground, where Cadence was quite dramatically "eaten" by the hippo several times.

At the flamingo pond, we started a group of ducklings right beside the fence. The kids were so excited to see them up close, even though the mother and father quickly herded their little ones away from the noisy giants.

One of our final stops, the "wild encounters" room. Connor got free reign here and ran up to say hi to every animal he could see.

We made it back to the car in one piece, handed out the cold apple slices, divvied up the remaining water into sippy cups and water bottles and headed out. Now we're having a lazy afternoon in our a/c cooled house. Tomorrow's another busy day, with a library visit and registration for Cadence in the afternoon. Friday morning we meet the teacher, then we have to hang out at home for the foundation repairmen to come do their job.