We Bought A Zoo (Pass)

It has been awhile, but last week I ventured to the zoo with the boys.  Over the years, we have had season passes and have made visits, but for some reason, we haven't gone for a couple of years.  I think I'm going to blame it on me being fat.... those hills can be pretty daunting if you're not up for a hike.  However, since I've turned over a new leaf of sorts, and the weather last week was beautiful, Jack decided that the zoo was the place for us to go in celebration.  Oh my.... we had such a great time.  Jack is at the perfect age for all the animals, he actually wants to learn about the animals and has the energy to walk on his own.  Will is thrilled with being able to toddle around periodically and see everything up close.  Although he is not great at following directions to "not pound on the glass."  Obviously, Will was not thrilled that the sun was in his eyes in the above picture, but trust me, he was excited.

The first thing we saw at the zoo was this guy....

You can tell that he's perched and ready to jump.... much to the delight of all of the field-tripping school kids.  He put on quite the display; showed us all his feathers and wanted everyone to know that he was a big deal.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a great head-on shot of the guy, but I can't recall that I have ever seen a peacock's bum either.

Jack was amazed that this lovely piece of sculpture was, in fact, a working water fountain.  He had to have a drink, and when I didn't get a great picture of him drinking and asked him to pose again, he turned me down and told me it was disgusting.  Some things never change!

After the peacocks and the monkeys, we headed over to take a look at the elephants.  This has always been one of my favorite parts of the zoo, especially since they refurbished the exhibit a few years back.

This was the part where Will was amazed that he could walk around the zoo, independent of the stroller.  He loved watching the elephants (from a distance) and the baby elephant was his favorite.

Finally, we got a picture of the boys on the elephant sculpture.  So fun that these things exist and that I can mark memories of all my children on these sculptures.  Too bad you can't see Jack's face .... he was trying so hard to keep Will from falling.

Hogle Zoo looks to be finally finishing the renovations that they started nearly a decade ago, when my girls were little.  Their new Rocky Shores exhibit is scheduled to open on June 1.  The bears will be back, and the seals and who knows what else.  

We finished up our first trip of the year to the zoo with the train... always a favorite, especially for little boys.  You can tell by the look on Jack's face that he is very concerned that Will is going to fall out.

I am so glad that we have such a nice zoo relatively close by and the kids and I look forward to spending a lot of time there over the next year.