Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

I need to start off by saying that this is, hands down, my favorite post ever (mostly because of the slide show)!  We had the most amazing weekend in Columbus with my family.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Todd could have been there with us (he had to work Friday night so he stayed home).

The zoo was incredible!  I had heard that it was one of the best in the country, and I'll have to agree with my sister when she said it is THE best.  There were so many different kinds of animals, and a lot that we don't have at the Toledo Zoo.  Most of them were very active - the only animal we weren't really able to see because it was sleeping was the red panda.  There was a boat ride, a train ride, and a petting zoo.  The aquarium had a touch tank, and the boys even got to touch a snake in the reptile house!  They have everything divided up by continent, which gives the park more of a "theme park" feeling than our zoo, but I liked being able to orient myself with where everything was and what I was seeing.  We skipped out on the African Congo for time's sake, but also because we do have a pretty big African section at our zoo.  We also skipped Zoombezi Bay (the waterpark attached to the zoo) and Jungle Jack's Landing (which is mostly just rides), but we saw pretty much everything else.  We had to take a little break in the middle of the day to head back to my parents' for lunch and the boys' naps, and even the adults needed a rest!  My sister and her husband joined us for the afternoon, and then we finished up with dinner at my parents' that night.

I took a LOT of pictures, and I knew that it would be a chore to load them all in to this post.  I have stopped using my actual camera completely, and I rely now only on my iPhone.  I like to click, click, click away when I'm taking pictures of the boys.  They are so active that it usually takes me a couple (or more) tries to get a decent picture from them, and I like seeing the variety and different facial expressions that I get when I look at all of them later.  I love the goofy ones that don't turn out well, and I can't wait to show them to the boys when they are older.  Lots of photos equals lots of memories, right?  Anyway, I came up with the idea of a slideshow, googled it, and realized that I could put one together using iPhoto.  Since I use this to upload photos to my computer anyway, I figured it would be really easy.  It was, and I am SO pleased with the result.  It takes a little while to watch the whole thing, but it is totally worth it.  I will definitely be making more of these!

Enjoy!

Zooin' It

We've been to the zoo a lot lately.  I try to take the boys at least once a week, but it's been so hot lately that we've only been able to go about once every other week.  We only stay for about an hour and a half in the morning before lunch and naps, so we try to see different parts of the zoo each time we go.  I take random pictures here and there, so I've compiled our last few trips into one post.

After about 15 photos, this was the best I could get.  Stinkers.

Penguin pelt

Polar bear foot

Tortoise shell

Giraffe pelt

Another penguin pelt

Peeking through the wall in Tembo Trail to see the hippos

This duck was so close to the wagon we could have touched it!

This time we just happened to venture into parts of the zoo we'd never been to before, beginning with the aviary.  I am not the biggest fan of birds, but I did think it was neat, and the boys loved the way some of the birds just flew around inside.

Inside a giant egg in the aviary.

A piano that played bird sounds

Phones that gave fun bird facts

We also went in the old Museum of Science, which now houses an amphibian exhibit and an insect exhibit.  The boys weren't crazy about the amphibians because most of the frogs were really small and hard to see, but they did love the giant salamander, and they got a kick out of all the spiders and bugs in the insect exhibit.

I believe there were giant spiders in this cage.

Look at the scorpion!

 Then we headed into Nature's Neighborhood.  We usually stay outside in this area, but on this day I decided to head inside.  There were lots of fun activities inside including face paint, a secret passageway, a giant beehive, and a spider web to climb!

Brushing a guinea pig

Again, about 15 attempts, and this is all I got.

On Saturday we will be visiting the Columbus Zoo for the first time, and I've heard really good things about it.  Can't wait to post lots of pictures!

Busy Day!

Today was a crazy busy day, but boy did we have fun!

Of course, we had to start the morning off by getting dressed.

Then we headed to the zoo!  We've been trying to go about once a week and see different animals each time we go.  Today we focused on the aquarium, then played on the playground for a few minutes, and finished up with our first visit to Nature's Neighborhood for this year.

Love their faces!

 

In the beaver lodge

Logan is yelling, "Ahh, the fish is eating my head!"

Helping to build a dam

Petting the goats

We got home in time for lunch and a nap, then headed outside for some fun with the neighbors!

And...what kind of a day would it be if we didn't wrap it up with some baking?

Such fun!  More tomorrow...