Today, my mom treated my crew of three and I to a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo!
This was Clayton's 4th time, Lacey's 2nd (but first time she remembers), and this was CJ's first time! The day started out a little chilly, which was perfect, but by 12:00 it warmed up. We stopped by the ocean exhibits first to pet the sharks, see the sting rays, and of course watch the playful penguins!
CJ loved watching them...he was so curious!
I feel like every time I go to the zoo, the walrus exhibit is always one of the highlights for me! The walrus is always so active and comes right up to the glass. Today, we saw her playing with her food and blowing bubbles.
Clayton's favorite animal to see was the TIGER of course, such beautiful and powerful creatures.
I thoroughly enjoyed the White-Handed Gibbons. This one, Elliot, was definitely showing off...cooing and swinging all around the enclosure, then coming to pose and wait for his picture to be taken.
The bats...well, they were creepy at best, but we enjoyed seeing how we measured up to them!
The brown grizzly bears look so deceiving! The kids love watching the movie Open Season, so reminding them that these bears are actually dangerous when they look so friendly was very hard.
CJ's favorite by far was the dolphin show. He loved the splashes of water and Clayton loved the dolphin named Jett who loved football. He could catch the football in the air and swim backwards with it.
My favorite was their new exhibit, the orangutans. These animals were so beautiful and kind looking. However, when one male saw a guide dog, it became aggressive in its cage and you were quickly reminded that these animals are wild and just how powerful they truly are.
We were able to get so close to them...such a neat experience!
Oh, and this was the coolest! While eating lunch outside, we watched them climb on these high wires protruding above the park...no cages around them...AMAZING!
The flamingos were fun...seeing how they could contort their bodies and their backwards bending legs. They came very close to us as well.
CJ wasn't impressed....
Their eyes and beaks....breathtaking!
Oh how I love these kids and sharing the zoo with them! I think I was just as excited at they were! We went on a train ride around the Plains area.
Highlight of the Zoo trip for CJ!
The giraffes were another favorite for us.
I had never seen them bend down to eat grass before.
They came within arms length, that if I reached out I could touch them...such long lushes eyelashes and those tongues!
One of these three is not like the others....
Oh, the rhinos...lazy big creatures today!
I caught a wildebeest getting a drink...
then went straight back to the rhinos!
The cheetahs were sunbathing today.
These little elephants were just too cute for words!
The size of these elephants and their feet!
Oh we had such fun today! We can't wait to go back again!
