the zoo...

We took our first zoo trip last week with our friends Val and Hali. We plan on going as a family sometime this summer, as we already have the tickets, but this new opportunity presented itself and Ava and I wanted to hang out with friends. So with Nathan's blessing we headed out on an adventure.

We left early, which turned out to be a smart idea. The zoo wasn't too crowded early on, and by early afternoon when naptime rolled around the girls were done.

waiting on the elevator

One of the major problems we encountered was that Ava and Hali weren't able to see a lot of things we could see, even if we took them out of their strollers. Seeing the gorillas who were hiding under trees or the lions resting up on high rocks, wasn't so easy for little eyes. They eventually did see the lion as it started to roar, which caught Ava off guard and scared her at first. So we headed up to see the elephants and ended up getting a front row seat to the ones that were in their pens.

the monkeys... thankfully these were also easy to see.

It was a beautiful day but we did have a couple light showers. When it started raining we headed in doors to the aquarium, and the fish were by far, the girl's favorite thing.

crawling in the ray tunnel

Once it stopped raining we headed back out to see the polar bears, and to check out the underwater tubes.

ewww, sharks, Mommy's least favorite part

Another thing the girls loved was getting to see the Sea Lions up close. There was an outdoor window they could climb up in and get right next to the glass. Ava made a new friend in one of the Sea Lions. The same one kept coming back and waving, flipping, and swimming by her.

Ava's new friend

and again...

and again...

and yet again.

After a quick lunch we headed over to the Kid's Kingdom. The wobbly bridge was a big hit, as was the play area. I had to pull Ava, kicking and screaming, off the slide. Hali wasn't happy either; she had her first experience on a big slide while we were there.

We spent a great morning at the zoo, and the girls even left with souvenirs, two giant stuffed elephants. We couldn't pass them up, they were on super sale. Within 10 minutes of being in the car, this is what the back seat looked like:

We are looking forward to our next trip to the zoo in July. Daddy will be going with us then. Hopefully we'll get to see more animals, and have just as much fun, if not more.