I wanted to order Boo at the Zoo tickets (National Zoo) online but since I have a temporary membership card it wouldn't let me - no better excuse to head to the zoo! I sent a text to my friend Patti and she was game too, so plans were made. I checked weather.com and it said cloudy and low 90's. Sounded good to me!
Um, well, it was definitely cloudy, but also very, VERY wet! The kids LOVED it! It rained for the first 2-3 hours we were there (light rain) and they ran in the rain, danced in the rain, jumped in puddles, just had a blast. I told Patti we looked silly in our big blue ponchos while the kiddos ran carefree through the rain; seriously, they were looking at us like, "it's only rain."
The great thing about going on a rainy day is that the animals react different. The one's that are usually just laying there suffering in the heat are up and walking around, talking, it's pretty cool! The river otters were just awesome!
they were flipping and diving right in front of the kids - they loved it!
Another animal that was different were Katelynn's favorite the flamingo's. They were moving around and talking. They are normally just standing there sleeping and barely moving. It was funny to see them so active.
we only went into one building and it was the bird building. We quickly realized that going from the warm rain to the cold indoor building - not such a great idea. Kids didn't seem to mind, but we noticed.
Lydia did not need to wear the backpack/leash thing, but she saw it in the stroller and wanted to wear it. Katelynn thought it was awesome! In fact both girls enjoyed it. They were too funny to watch.
Another new thing we saw was the elephant exercise trail. There was a girl standing there and she said if we wanted to wait in about 2-3 minutes the elephant will be there - heck yea! How cool.
Waiting on the elephant.
there he is!
The Panda exhibit was closed (for pregnancy watch - so cool, maybe there'll be a baby panda next time we go), however we got lucky again! He was sitting outside just relaxing.
The outdoor flight exhibit was fun as well. We saw a partridge (in a pear tree...)
Denver was running on an incline and slipped and scraped his knee, so he had to go back in the stroller (that happened to him a lot...I'd feel bad for keeping him in the stroller and let him out, he'd listen for a bit, then decide that he didn't want to listen and he'd start running, then he'd fall and back in the stroller he'd go).
Before falling...
Almost got them all to look at the camera!
Over by the elephant exhibit they opened a new section of the zoo (apparently it opened over Labor Day). It was really cool! They call it the American Trail. They had seals, sea lions, wolves (they weren't out), ravens, more river otters, a bald eagle, beavers...
the ravens...
beavers (they were so big!)
A face painting station that was thankfully closed - the girls wanted ALL of them!
Denver's favorite part of all was the farm section; he was just so animated and excited!
And I did manage to get his socks and her dress white again!
Thanks to my poor planning the kids got some "free" stuff. They each got a double sided National Zoo t-shirt (a size too big - LOL) and Katelynn got a pink tiger (I think you can see it in some of the photos). I'm pretty sure my daughter is officially spoiled. She said she wanted to go to the National Zoo again today, so I got really excited and said what animals did you like and want to see again? Well, she said, Mommy I want the orange tiger to go with my pink tiger so she's not lonely. Sigh. Going to two zoo's just a few weeks apart where she got a stuffed animal at both now means zoo=stuffed animal. Oops.
A few more random shots for the day. I actually didn't take any of the photos for this blog. I figured since we've been to the zoo before I wouldn't need my camera, and then it was raining, so I just left it in the car. Thankfully Patti brought her's (it's actually her phone...takes great photos!) because no matter how many times we've been to the zoo, there always seems to be something new...that and the rain made it so much fun for the kiddos!
I had to do a double take on this one because it looks like rushing water behind her.
Really Mom!
Running in the rain...
Petting the Salamander.
Lydia thought the statue of the salamander would bite her - she loved all the statues but this one. LOL
Red Panda statue.
Lydia got an umbrella!
The cheetah's! There were 3 of them and they were rolling around and just being "silly."
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