This morning, we went to the zoo and met up with Rowan, Isla, and Ariel.  We got there pretty early and saw lots of animals before they arrived.  It’s nice to have the hippo all to yourself.  Janie was delighted!

Our baby hippo was awake and posed with the bigger hippo floating in the water.

Mama likes it when it’s empty and there aren’t random people photo-bombing our pictures.

peacock

giraffe

At 11:30, we went to see the bears for their feeding time.

Janie got a spot right at the window and was watching the fish (lunch) swim around before the bears were released.

When the bears were released, one of them quickly caught the fish and the kids watched the bear eat the fish.  It’s funny how none of the kids felt bad for the fish and they also didn’t get grossed out.

Next was a ride on the train.  We took full advantage of the zoo passes and got all 4 kids on the ride for free!

As usual, Peanut sat out with Mama and watched the train go by.

Uncle James got to meet Peanut for the first time and helped hold him while Mama was putting things away.

Janie scored another smushed penny and chose the bear today.  How appropriate.

She also wanted to take a picture with this statue at the entrance.  She usually doesn’t want to take photos but when she does, she cheeses-it-up really well.

Here are all four kids together.  By the end of the morning, they were all chasing each other around and playing.

What a fun day at the zoo!  What’s even better is that Janie took a long 2-hour nap afterward.  Hooray!