+ a zoo afternoon +

I love love love the fact that we are living in a city where the Zoo is only a 25 minute drive away & we can spend a morning or afternoon there. And being a very Mormon, kid-friendly city, it is very affordable too. What an inspiring, interesting place to go for all of us - to gaze at the animals that we would never have a chance to see otherwise. Yes, I do have sad feelings about their living conditions & am not so sure on their quality of life, but if I were being purely selfish, the Zoo is one of my favourite places to go. 

Our favourite little elephant, Baby Zuri with her Mummy looking on! We hadn't seen her out the last few visits so today was especially special. She was even playing with a big red ball - very exciting!

After skipping the beautiful carousel the last few visits I promised Jamin that we would have a go this time. Both of the boys loved it. The animals were exquisite & so varied. I was so busy trying to get video & photos that I didn't really get to enjoy it. Next time?

Jamin was adament that he wanted to go on the baby elephant.

This video is more for the kids watching than adults but still lots of fun!

Jamin is a keen "Animal Rescuer" after watching countless Go, Diego, Go episodes. A couple of weeks ago I made him up his own Rescue Pack, complete with binoculars, telescope, compass & camera. We have been climbing trees, stomping through snow & reaching up high with branches to rescue lots of animals around the yard. So, understandably, the rescue pack came along to the zoo & we looked very closely to find the Armadillo & Chinchillas. We found a leopard as well... 

and a sleeping tiger.

We had lots of fun playing on the bronze statues of the tiger & its cub...

and the big gorilla.

At the end of the afternoon I had 2 very tired boys that didn't want to go home & some traffic to get through... but I think it was worth it!