Trip to the zoo

Yesterday we took full advantage of the cooler weather that we have been having, as well as the floating holiday that Barth had from the 4th of July and went to the zoo. It was a nice cool day. I think that it got up to about 83 that day. It was lovely!!! The kids had a wonderful time. It had been a while since we had been there. They had re-done several parts of the zoo. One part that was neat was that you could see the giraffes up really close. It was our first stop. If you look closely, you can see the giraffe's face right there by Aaron's.
Okay, so Weston looks kind of evil in this picture, but it was a good one of Brian and he didn't take many good pictures yesterday! We stopped by the reptile house next and the boys had fun looking at all the snakes as well as the alligators.
They loved climbing the railing to get a closer look.

Here we all are checking things out!!

I think that the boys are pretending to be scared of the python in this picture, but I personally think that it looks like they are all sick!! :) Barth took this one while Amber and I were checking out the turtles and alligators in the center of the building.

I think that we were checking out the hippos here. I think that Brian gave us a fake smile every time that I got the camera out that day! Silly boy!

Weston was showing Amber the "kitty cat" here. I think that it was a bobcat or something. Amber loved the cat house. She meowed from the time that we got in the cat house to the time that we left. Too bad that Weston and Barth are allergic to cats......I am sure that Amber would love one!!! :)

While we were in the cat house Brian said, "Take a picture of me!" He was so funny because at every thing we looked at, he wanted to be sure that he was the first one to see everything. He would run ahead of us just so that he could read the signs and tell us what was coming up next. He loves that he can read anything and everything now!

In front of the snow leopard. Amber wanted down to go run around some more!!

When we stopped for lunch, the boys had to get out their maps to see where we had been and where they wanted to go next. We were lucky enough to snag a nice shady table for lunch!!!

Waiting for lunch. When we first got there a lady near the entrance told me that Amber looked so cute that they should make a doll that looked just like her!! :) I have to say that I agree, but I know that I am prejudice about how cute she is!!!

More at the lunch table. From where Aaron was sitting he could spy the carousel. Since we got the season's pass when we went, the carousel rides were included. The boys were excited that they could ride after lunch time.

Barth took the kids on the carousel. The only time Amber sat on her animal was before the ride started. The next time they came around my way, Amber was in her Daddy's arms with her head on his shoulder. She didn't like it so much. So the next billion times that the boys rode the carousel, Amber watched on the sidelines with me!!

Brian wanted to ride the shark!! They loved riding around and around!

We liked checking out the lions and things as well. They also had a manatee, fish and alligator house that we went too, but we didn't last too long there. It was warm for the warmer weather animals and so it was about 10 degrees cooler outside than it was in there. All in all it was a fantastic day together! We had a fun time together as a family.