Boo at the Zoo!

We spent the day of Halloween at the zoo! We had been trying to make it to the Boo at the Zoo activity at our zoo, but missed it and then missed it at the Hogle Zoo, so we settled for a trip to the zoo on Halloween instead. We had family pictures with the Boman side on Thursday night (post still to come...) so Darren took Friday off so we could just stay down and do something with the kiddies! Logan has been begging to go to the "real Zoo" since the zoo we go to here is really small and he was really excited to go! We had a great day!

Halloween ended up being a great day to go! I think most people are doing Halloween parties at school and other stuff, so there weren't a lot of people there, and we had perfect weather! The animals were also really active too, which always makes it more fun. We thought about dressing the kids up, but I didn't want them to be tired of the costumes before we even got to trick-or-treating. Logan's costume is really hot and he sweats a ton in it, and Rylee's is really bulky, so we decided to hold off on costumes until later.
We got to the zoo around noon and smuggled Wendy's in. My kids LOVE hamburgers! Here they are chowing down!

Then we were off to see the animals - First the monkeys... Here is Rylee hanging like a little monkey! The kids both really liked the monkeys - especially the cute little ones that we were running and jumping all over the place! They thought they were so funny!

Logan laughing at the silly monkeys

Next, we saw the rhinos and elephants. This exhibit is so nice and the kids thought the elephant was so funny! He was drinking from his pond and they thought it was so neat how he used his trunk to pick up the water! If you look really close, you can see the rhino in these pictures...

Looking at the elephants...
Then we saw the bears, zebras and penguins and a few others. I had to take a picture of Rylee with the lion water fountain. I'm pretty sure that I have a collection of photos with this same lion from my many trips to the zoo when I was younger. We had to convince Logan that it was safe to take a drink - He was pretty worried that the lion was going to roar at him, or take a bite of him, or something. It was pretty funny to watch him approach it.

Next, we saw the giraffes - My favorite!!! Then we saw the cats. The new cat house is SOOOO much nicer! The animals were really active, too. Both the tiger and cheetah were up and pacing around. I had never really seen them up and about before, so that was fun. The kids loved this statue! Then we went to the yucky reptile house. I hate the smell in there! The kids really liked this one though. They were both excited to see the alligators for some reason (Ry really likes to say the word "Crocodile" right now and it is hilarious...) and they thought the meerkats were hilarious!

Darren's favorites are the snakes, so he already has both Logan and Rylee interested in them! Rylee checking out the meerkats -- She thought they were so funny and loved watching them!

Next, we saw the gorillas. We were lucky that they were sitting right by the glass and we had so much fun watching the silly gorilla pick at himself and pick up leaves. He was a pretty funny guy! Here are my little monkeys!Here are me and Rylee being silly - She loves to make monkey sounds and do her little monkey sign! Darren and Logan riding a rhino...

Then we rode the little train. I hadn't done that since I was little. It was MUCH smaller than I remembered and the train goes fast enough that you can't really see any of the animals as you pass. The kids thought it was fun though. You gotta love Rylee and all her facial expressions! This is her pouty face. Apparently, she did not want to take this photo! She didn't want to be sitting on my lap - she wanted to sit on the bench ALONE! She is my independent child.
Now she is happy because she is sitting on her own. She is such a funny little girl!

We ended by letting the kids spend some time at the playground. They had a great time and loved running around and going down the slide and climbing all over the funny animals! Here is Rylee on the caterpillar and Logan the turtle! Rylee's favorite was this teeter-totter thing that bounced up and down. She kept saying "Harder, Harder" and laughing! She was loving it! Logan also liked seeing the fruit bats in the little cave exhibit there.
We had a great day and so much fun all together! This is Rylee's first trip in a year, so it was so much fun to watch her really get into the animals and know what they are this time. Logan also loved it, and every time I ask him what his favorite it, he comes up with something different. I think he just must love them all!