I'll Treasure This: Zoo trip

Yesterday we went to the zoo! We got an early start right after Henry finished up with swim practice, and pretty much spent the entire day there. We were excited that my nephew, Robbie, and my sister, Karen, joined us. Of course, right when we started, we had to take the traditional lion statue picture.

And then we rode the carousel, which is pretty much our traditional second stop. ;)

Then, on to the dolphin show. It was here that Caroline told me that her life's ambition was to be a dolphin trainer.

I can see why she said that. It seems like a pretty fun job!

There is a big (very big) bug exhibit at the zoo this summer. Seth thought it was even better than when they had the animatronic dinosaurs a couple of years back. You can see why he was so impressed!

Next we went to a wetlands exhibit.

I love how Evan's older siblings doted on him and shared in his excitement over what they were seeing!

Right when we were looking at the crocodiles, I literally bumped into my cousin Mary Beth! She was at the zoo with her kiddos, so my kids were thrilled to see their cousins! What are the chances, huh?! We are going to plan another zoo trip together soon!

Here's our crew!

After that exhibit, we stopped in a souvenir shop. I was so proud of the kids that they didn't ask to buy anything...except for this $500 tiger. ;) That is so totally in our budget.

We then went to the amphibian house where we got to see poison dart frogs! We learned that the ones at the zoo are not, in fact, poisonous, because the zookeepers do not feed them the red bugs that the frogs eat in the wild. These red bugs metabolize inside the frogs body into a poison. The kids were fascinated by them, especially Seth. Seth was funny because while the other kids would stay at an exhibit for a while, it was never long enough for Seth. He loves to learn all kinds of facts about animals.

Right outside of the Living Coast exhibit (our favorite), there is a splash park area. The kids came dressed in their suits, and had a great time cooling off.

We had to take the traditional "Oh no, a giant fish is eating______!!" picture. Don't you love Caroline's acting?

Seth and Evan loved the penguins!

I thought this was a pretty cool picture. The dragonfly in the middle of it is made of flowers, and the kids, of course, are sitting on the lions.

Next up: the BUGS! Giant animatronic ones, no less!

Not only did we get to see a giant stink bug, we got to smell him too!

In the middle of the bug exhibit, there was a house full of kid activities all related to bugs. There were many live bugs for them to see! In one part there was a tunnel full of cool bug videos. It was so funny to watch them as they kept calling to each other and pointing at the videos saying, "Ooooh, look at this one!"

The kids actually got to touch a hissing cockroach from Madagascar!

The kids loved the fish/water bug tank which allowed them to stand in the middle of it.

Of course, the older boys thought it would be funny to see if all of them could fit in it!

In the middle of the exhibit was a mini house that showed where bugs can live. Seth found real roaches under the kitchen sink. YUCK!

If you know Evan, you know that he kind of has a thing about cicadas. He loves to look for their shells in the summer, and always finds a lot at the lake. So he was pretty excited when he saw this giant cicada!

There really was so much to learn! It was so nice that the zoo had stations set up where zookeepers would talk bugs with the kids and show them real bugs up close and personal!

Caroline was happy to find this giant butterfly!

Henry and Seth thought that this tarantula was pretty cool.

The gift shop, which is always so conveniently placed at the end of exhibits, was our next stop. Henry found this lollipop that had a scorpion inside of it!! Yes, it is edible, but oh my word...EEEEEEEWWWWWWW!