Lucas’s Birthday at the Zoo

A little boy’s first birthday is a special day. And since grandma was in town-it was going to be an extra special day!
Bright and early on that special Birthday morning we were up and out and about.
We got our tickets and were ready to go see some animals!
There had been rain the day before, and it made the day 15 degrees cooler than it had been in weeks.
So, the perfect day.

Our first stop:
The Elephants.

They sure are big.

Did this one with Mirah when she was little:

Then these cutie kids.

We made our way over to the ape enclosure.

When we went in the gorilla was right near the glass.

Then the orangutans.

Its fun to come back to a place year after year…
Look at Mirah on her first visit:

Lucas on his:

Then we saw the pregnant Mama gorilla.

Mirah was fascinated.

We enjoyed the African landscape and the zebra.

The zoo was BONKERS busy day so getting pictures was really tough, there were other kids and parents EVERYWHERE.

Lions NEXT!

Lucas was INTO it.

We decided to ride the train next and look who we saw in line!!
Miss Vicky! Mirah’s preschool teacher!

After a short wait in long line we took our turn on the train.

Grandma, Lucas, Karen.

Me and my buddy Mirah.

Ready to go!

There is a baby Lion!

Baby Willow!! She is six months old! So cute!

And we were off.

Rhino time!

LOVE.

NEXT the birds nest:

Here in 2013

2014

2015

2016

Karen

Lucas

One year old babies at the zoo:

What trip to the zoo would be complete with out a visit to the bird show??!
It was then Kelly and the kids met up with us.

Reese.

Sloan.

My girl.

My boy.

After a fantastic bird show Sloan took a ride on the carousel with his mom.
These guys waited over here:

Karen asked if she could go and be with her dad, so I called and her grandma Jana was super excited to come and pick her up.
These cuties.

Karen telling me about it.

Mom and Kelly met up with us as they decided to be done for the afternoon.

We took the kids up to see the seals and bears.

Here grandma bought the kids a toy of their choice.
Mirah picked a leopard seal (she named Fluffy), Lucas picked an Otter (Mom and I named him Ollie)

We went up to see the big cats.
They were mostly no shows, because there was a recent escape of one of the leopards.
These signs were up in almost every exhibit in the area:

There were construction crews everywhere. The escape happened over a month ago, so it seems like they are taking the escape and repairs really seriously.