To the Zoo

Who would have guessed that the weather on the Saturday after Thanksgiving would be so warm and sunny?!  Lucky for us, the beautiful weather coincided with a promotion for Friends of the Zoo members!  We were allowed to bring up to 4 guests to the zoo for free over Thanksgiving weekend.  Who did Sarah want to invite?  Grammie and PaPa, of course!

I actually love going to the zoo when it's cooler out.  It just seems like more animals are out and about when it's not the middle of July.  For instance, we hardly ever get to see the otters, and they were both out on Saturday!

One thing we have to do regardless of the weather is to ride the carousel at the zoo!  Sarah convinced PaPa to take her this time.  She started out on an ostrich...

...but then traded up for the nice white horse right beside her!

Good old, PaPa - always good for a whirl on the carousel! 

Next, we took the tram to Africa!  This was a treat for the girls because we don't usually go to the that part of the zoo.  It's a longer walk than the older section of the zoo, plus I don't love having to take the tram when I have a stroller and two girls to manage by myself.  Having two extra adults sure helped, though!  Kate seemed to really enjoy the cuddles she got on the ride...

Another reason we rarely go to Africa is because Sarah always gets off the tram and then immediately demands to ride on the Sky Safari.  This isn't fun for me because 1) the cost isn't covered by our Friends of the Zoo pass so I have to dig through the diaper bag to find my wallet and 2) it's downright terrifying to try to manage both girls on a rickety old ski lift by myself!  Sarah was having a really, really good day, though, because Grammie and PaPa were both totally willing to ride with her!

Off they go!

Kate and I hung out for a bit...

...and then they were back.

Sarah was so excited that she literally jumped off down the path to see the animals!

First, we headed across the swinging bridge to visit the gorillas.

This guy was laying in the sun like the rest of us wished we were doing!

No doubt inspired, Sarah took a little break on this log beside the path...

Kate took a break from riding in the stroller to hang out with Grammie!

We saw some kudu and oryx.

We played in the thatched hut.

We looked through a telescope.

We saw some lions.  We started to get cranky.

We got to ride on PaPa's shoulders.

We still pouted.

We saw the hippos - out of the water!

We rode on the stone hippo.

Then we rallied to return to the front of the zoo for one last exhibit - the penguins!

As if the penguins weren't cool enough already, look who we found hanging out with them!

Once Santa was out of the water, Sarah was ready to go.  I'm so glad that we were able to share this time with Grammie and PaPa!  We're so blessed to have them here in town, not to mention willing to walk all over Africa with their granddaughters!