monkeys at the zoo

We met up with some college friends of mine at the zoo today. Their daughter, Hannah, is in between the twins' and Erin's ages, so they all had fun together but she and Erin had an especially great time. My friends are members of this zoo and visit often so Hannah was our tour guide. "Hey, Erin! Come this way! The bug house is over here! There's bugs inside!"


This zoo really is geared toward smaller children. Lots for them to climb on and explore and plenty of exhibits at just the right viewing height. And unlike the last major zoo trip we made, to a different zoo over a year ago to fulfill Erin's specific request to see some elephants, only to get there and discover that there were no elephants, this zoo at least had all the major prerequisite animals: lions, tigers, bears (oh my!), giraffes, apes, and, yes, elephants.




In the petting zoo they had brushes available to groom the goats and sheep and Erin and Hannah thought that was loads of fun. Kate and Allison mainly followed the pigmy goats around and Kate sat with them, talked to them, and hugged them like they were her beloved pets. And it was interesting to see that even goats manage to eat their watermelon more neatly than my girls do.

In addition to the petting zoo, and exhibits, and animals to observe, they also had rides: car rides, a carousel, a train, and a few other things we were too worn out to try. With all of this and a picnic lunch it was pretty full day for everyone. We had beautiful weather and this was the first time our kids have met Hannah, so we had a great time and we should go back sometime soon. The employees didn't even question us as we were leaving the zoo with the girls, as I told Erin they might. "They might think daddy and I are trying to steal three of the monkeys." I warned her.