zoo day!

Today we went to the zoo! Again, just gorgeous weather, enough that it was actually quite hot in the sun and warm enough to put shorts on Seth. :) He was SO excited to go. It was precious. He kept asking in the car if we were almost there and how many more minutes. I don't think he has ever done that before, or not at least that I can remember. He was patient in the long line to buy tickets and in the whole zoo. Just stellar behavior, which I didn't anticipate at all with lack of napping these past few days.

Seth wanted his own map for the zoo. He pointed out where he wanted to go using the pictures as help.

Seth leads the way to the hippos first. He carried that map for a good portion of the day (and consulted it when he put it down later).

The hippos were inside this morning instead of outside, but he was still excited even though he wasn't allowed to touch them or feed them!

Kate couldn't have cared less about the hippos. :)

But the giraffes were a different story (unlike our first trip to the zoo with her last summer!). She loved them and kept talking to them and wanting to go back to see them some more after we had left.

Break time for playing while we eat our picnic lunch.

"Look, Mom, no hands!"

Outside the sea lions and polar bears, Kate plays with this statue, happy to be out of the stroller and roaming around.

We got ice cream at the zoo, and Seth chose strawberry and "va-i-a." It's hard to type how he pronounces it, but it makes us laugh every time. Are we evil for hoping he'll choose vanilla so that he has to say it?!

Again, just happy to roam around :)

"Hi Mom!"

Like I mentioned yesterday, this girl has a fascination with rocks. Here she is picking up a miniscule one she found on the path.

Reaching to pet the camels.

And on to the goat petting zoo! Seth was SUPER excited to chase them around and pet them.

Kate went in for the first time and would go near them only if she was also holding onto Kevin. She laughed and thought it was funny.

Seth is feeding this goat some of its own poop here. I know, SO gross. We realized it too late, and so did the goat... ;) And I know my mom is saying right now, "Gross! I hope you washed his hands really well after that!" Yes, Mom, we did. :)

This time he's feeding him an apple. Much better!

Last stop of the day was the lions. He waited very patiently to take his turn sitting on this carved lion and loved being up there.

As we were walking to the car after the zoo, Seth was trailing far behind because he was busy playing with his little plastic hippo toy. He got a bunch of similar animals in his stocking that he LOVES and plays with every single day (you know how you see these cheap little things and throw them in there and they wind up being your kid's favorite toy?!). So when we saw these, we told him he could get one. He was thrilled with that 99 cent toy!

We saw pretty much everything at the zoo, minus a few little things here and there. I am always amazed at just how big the zoo is and how many different animals it has. It's quite complete! The kids had a wonderful time and were so good. (Both were put directly in the tub when we got home because they were so dirty!) Seth is already asking when he can go to the zoo again. I look forward to going with both sets of grandparents this summer as he now understands and loves it.