Our fun day at the ZOO

Warning: I have a new camera that I LOVE + we had a great time at the zoo = LOTS of pictures.

Yesterday we surprised the boys with a trip to the zoo. Even better, Grandma & Grandpa C and Uncle Billy met us there for a fun family day. It makes my heart so happy to watch how excited the boys get to see either set of their Grandparents. They absolutely love their Grandparents on the Farm and their Grandparents at the Beach.

We left home about 7am, getting to the zoo a little after 9am including an almost-there-emergency-potty stop for one sweet 4 year old. =) I checked the weather but only really paid attention to the High for the day (silly me!) so while we had coats, I didn't have hats and gloves like most others did. But the boys didn't care and off we went. We started in North America, walked all the way through the zoo to Africa and then caught the Zoo Tram back to the front entrance. We enjoyed a back-of-the-truck picnic before heading home. The boys did great, walking the entire way (probably at least 3 miles) and we got to see lots of animals. I think I have pictures of most of them so I'll tell our story through them.

Ready to head into the zoo with Grandma, Grandpa & Uncle Billy

Eli was so excited to see everything and it was cute to watch him tell Cole what to look at.

It took a while but we finally found the big alligator.

A rare family photo. And not a bad one at that!

Cougar

Eli and his fake alligator buddy

Sliding down the big leaf, arms in the air. I totally see a future roller coaster rider!

THIS was hilarious. The boys slid down the slide with Grandpa

and they all went splat at the bottom.

Grandpa, Cole & Mr. Praying Mantis

Cutie Cole - he posed for this picture by himself.

While they were looking for animals, Eli thought it was funny to hit Grandpa & Cole with the leaves.

Cole decided that he didn't want to wear his jacket so as he walked, he would swing his arms so it just happened to fall off. Of course, Eli started doing the same thing!

Black bear

Bison

Elk

Eli taking a ride on the Bison statue.

Cole had fun watching the geyser with Grandma.

A great shot, wish Cole would have been looking.

Snack time!

Mommy and Daddy

Mr. Grizzly Bear

He was pretty active for us, relatively speaking.

Red Wolf (and it was great that the Wolfpack beat UNC yesterday too!)

Cole carried his new Monster Truck the entire day driving on every surface he could find.

Cactus

Cool flowers, I have to figure out what these are and if we can grow them.

Turtle

Forgot this guy's name.

Admiring the ocelot

Ocelot - such a beautiful "kitty cat"

Hi beautiful

Daddy and Eli checking out the snakes

Mommy and Cole-man

Crazy boys

Eli in the big bee hive

He was so excited to find that someone had written his name inside the hive

Grandma & Cole

Hanging with the bee. Eli loved the honey candy Grandpa bought.

Mr. Big Boy - Cole walked more than Eli did.

Funny to remember Eli in this same Jeep before Cole was born.

Of course, Cole had to take a turn.

We got to the gorillas at feeding time.

It was really neat to watch.

This big guy obviously was King of the group. The others were scared of him. Two of the smaller gorillas tried to get some of his food when he walked away. When he looked back, they took off and he came back to claim his food and space again.

This was classic boy-ness. Eli & Cole were both obsessed with saying "Gorilla butt" and it didn't help that he came to the window and put it on display.

Full belly.

My two little monkeys. Not gorillas yet. =)

Lemurs

I love this shot and how Cole's arms are so wide open for Grandma.

Grandma's boy.

The chimps

The baby chimp was adorable and kept trying to climb on all the others. Her name was Nori.

"Pesky little kid"

Such a great family day!

Lazy lion. He never moved for us.

Red River Hog - totally ugly

Told you Cole drove on every surface he could find.

I love shots where you can see happiness and love.

Ostrich

Zebra - very cool.

I never realized that their mane was striped as well.

1, 2, 3......J-U-M-P!

Elephant

Checking out the elephants.

I loved the zoom on my new camera. These guys were a ways away.

Not quite as big as the baby elephant.

Eli "driving" the Elephant Tracking helicopter.

Oh my, this dung beetle statue caused Eli some frustration. When he first sat on it, he fell off backwards. Next, he fell frontwards. THEN he said it was my fault because I dressed him in "soft pants" and it made him slide off. I kept joking that he didn't even make it 8 seconds on the beetle.