Bring on the animals!

 Made our first zoo trip of the year!

 Rebecca adopted this peacock

Hoping for many more adventures there this summer!

We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo

 Took advantage of a free Sunday & went up to the "Big Zoo"!  It was a pretty day, so even walking between the indoor exhibits was nice.  We enjoyed the new touch pool at the aquarium.

Sarah was in awe of pretty much everything.  She LOVED the fish & all the other animals.  I remember Andrew & Teresa at this age being more fascinated by all the other kids in strollers.  Rebecca & Sarah just wanted to climb in with the wildlife! 

 

 "Woah. Turtah."

 Andrew has to photo-bomb everything these days!

 Rebecca was trying desperately to catch a butterfly & finally did at the end.  At one point Teresa goes, "Look!  Rebecca has one on her shirt!"  Get it? 

We've never done the IMAX there before, but since our tickets were half off with our other zoo pass, we decided it was a doable splurge.  We watched a show all about coral reefs.  Very interesting! 

 Loved watching this mama gibbon swing around wildly while her baby just clutched her fur.  At one point it looked as if she were even rocking her to sleep.  Pretty cool to watch!

 After a full fun day, we had to stop at Hardee's on the way home.  Not exactly the ice cream we were expecting, but it was delicious.  I shared my first shake with Curly.

All aboard!

One last ride on the zoo train! 

It's always a special treat when Daddy can join in the fun.

Zoorific

ZOO

What do you do when cousins are in town?
Go to the zoo, of course!

 Teresa LOVES Maria.  Everything she does is awesome. 

 Petting the flying squirrel

 Two of a kind

Such fun!  Glad we could go with you, cousins!  

The BIG Zoo

 

Teresa's final birthday request was a visit to "the BIG zoo" & see the REAL zebras.  :)  So, after Sunday Mass we hit the road.  We've never eaten at King Kong by the zoo, so we decided to give it a try.  They had humongous portions (all the kids could share one kid's meal next time) & fun animals hanging all over the place.

 Rebecca especially loved the "peppery" fries. 

 Sarah apparently had a distressing phone call.

 Rebecca had a birthday excursion with Dad to the zoo last year, but the rest of us hadn't been in a while.  Since we last went, they did some great renovations.  We had a pretty nice day weather-wise & did more than usual but still didn't cover half of it!

 Up close & personal with a mama gorilla

 The "they're not real" dinosaurs  --  I thought they were rather impressive.

 After each one growled or moved Teresa kept saying, "They're not real", but she waved to every one!

 

 The aquarium had some pretty awesome renovations including a whole room full of different types of jellyfish.  So cool!

 Andrew was determined to catch a shark & eel on film... he did pretty well!

 

And at long last the REAL ZEBRAS.  We had such a fun day together! 

Happy Birthday, zebra girl.  :)