We went into the viewing building, and I was able to get a picture of the lion's head poking up above a branch. But when we got out of the building, he'd moved again and I was able to get a better picture with Evie and Daddy in front of him. Right as I took the picture, the lion lifted his head and yawned, so you can see him in the background. 
After the lions, we moved to the zebras, and I was able to get several pictures of them. Evie seemed more interested in sucking on her shirt than in seeing the zebras, so I just angled the camera to include her in one of the shots.
Then we moved on to the Feline House. Earlier this year four tiger cubs were born, and I was excited to see them. Two of them were playing right up against the window, and Evie had so much fun watching them!
It was Mommy's turn to hold the baby, so Daddy got several pictures of us, and a video of Evie watching the tigers play:
We finally had to drag Evie away from the tigers so we could go see the other big cats. All of the leopards were always sleeping, so it was easy to get pictures of Evie and Todd in front of them.
Once we were done looking at the cats, we took Evie over to see the giraffes. We'd hoped that she would really get excited about them, and to help her connect with the big real animals she was going to see, we brought her toy giraffe that my mom bought for her. Unfortunately, she was getting a little hungry and cranky, so she didn't even notice the giraffes and started chewing on her toy instead. Maybe she was channeling her inner lion again!
Everyone was getting hot and hungry, so the kids cooled down in a kiddie pond while we fed and changed the baby. Then we went to a large, shady, grassy spot for lunch (John brought sandwiches, chips, Cracker Jacks, and soda) and while we ate, we saw peacocks roaming around near us. We finished eating just in time to snag a place near the water so we could watch the sea lion feeding demo. Evie didn't really notice what was going on until the very end of the demo, when the sea lion jumped out of the water to touch the ball with his nose and splashed her on his way back down, which startled her and made her jump. Todd got a video of the whole thing, but it's about 5 minutes long, and it's mostly the lady talking about how big sea lions get. After the sea lion demo, we went into the Tropical Discovery building--filled with snakes, lizards, fish, etc. We walked through a "mountain cave" and saw a room of bats behind glass. Evie loved them! Her eyes were flitting back and forth, trying to follow the rapidly flying bats. Then she noticed the ones hanging from the ceiling, and just stared at them. She really thought that the bats were fascinating. We moved on to the snakes, which I love, but Evie couldn't really see them where they were camouflaged against the plants in their cages. When we started looking at the fish, however, Evie lit up. She enjoyed seeing the light reflecting on the water, the bright fishies, and the pretty plants.
Once we were done looking at the cats, we took Evie over to see the giraffes. We'd hoped that she would really get excited about them, and to help her connect with the big real animals she was going to see, we brought her toy giraffe that my mom bought for her. Unfortunately, she was getting a little hungry and cranky, so she didn't even notice the giraffes and started chewing on her toy instead. Maybe she was channeling her inner lion again!
Everyone was getting hot and hungry, so the kids cooled down in a kiddie pond while we fed and changed the baby. Then we went to a large, shady, grassy spot for lunch (John brought sandwiches, chips, Cracker Jacks, and soda) and while we ate, we saw peacocks roaming around near us. We finished eating just in time to snag a place near the water so we could watch the sea lion feeding demo. Evie didn't really notice what was going on until the very end of the demo, when the sea lion jumped out of the water to touch the ball with his nose and splashed her on his way back down, which startled her and made her jump. Todd got a video of the whole thing, but it's about 5 minutes long, and it's mostly the lady talking about how big sea lions get. After the sea lion demo, we went into the Tropical Discovery building--filled with snakes, lizards, fish, etc. We walked through a "mountain cave" and saw a room of bats behind glass. Evie loved them! Her eyes were flitting back and forth, trying to follow the rapidly flying bats. Then she noticed the ones hanging from the ceiling, and just stared at them. She really thought that the bats were fascinating. We moved on to the snakes, which I love, but Evie couldn't really see them where they were camouflaged against the plants in their cages. When we started looking at the fish, however, Evie lit up. She enjoyed seeing the light reflecting on the water, the bright fishies, and the pretty plants.
When we finished with the Tropical Discovery building, Kim really wanted to go to Bird World, but John thought that it closed early, so we galloped clear across the zoo to get there in time. Poor Evie was so tuckered out from all of the excitement that she zonked out on the way over and stayed asleep for the rest of the zoo trip.
Everyone was getting tired, so we quickly carried her through the Bird World, and then hurried through the pachyderm house. The two elephants were getting their toenails painted with an anti-infection ointment, the rhino had his head jammed in the corner of his cage while he ate, and the hippo stayed underwater the whole time. The zoo is building a HUGE addition to the zoo, called Asian Tropics, and the pachyderms will all be moved to their spacious new home soon. We stopped at the cheetah enclosure on our way out of the zoo. He was lounging on a hill, and when I pulled out my camera, he got up, paced across the field, and flopped back down in the grass just as I finally got the camera to record. However, I managed to catch a video of him anyway when he decided that that particular patch of grass wasn't what he wanted after all.
Everyone was getting tired, so we quickly carried her through the Bird World, and then hurried through the pachyderm house. The two elephants were getting their toenails painted with an anti-infection ointment, the rhino had his head jammed in the corner of his cage while he ate, and the hippo stayed underwater the whole time. The zoo is building a HUGE addition to the zoo, called Asian Tropics, and the pachyderms will all be moved to their spacious new home soon. We stopped at the cheetah enclosure on our way out of the zoo. He was lounging on a hill, and when I pulled out my camera, he got up, paced across the field, and flopped back down in the grass just as I finally got the camera to record. However, I managed to catch a video of him anyway when he decided that that particular patch of grass wasn't what he wanted after all.
We walked out of the zoo, and Evie woke up on the way back to the car. I think she had a really good time seeing all of the animals. There were so many baby animals born this year, and we only saw a few of them: the four tiger cubs and the giraffe. We only had time to see maybe a quarter of the zoo, not even counting the Asian Tropics section that hasn't opened yet. We're really excited about our new zoo passes, and we're looking forward to taking Evie back often!
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