Zoo Day

My mom and I took the boys to the Dallas Zoo toward the end of March. According to the forecast, it was supposed to be in the low 60's that day. But it turned out to be in the mid 50's instead. With the clouds and wind, it felt a few degrees lower than that. So, we were a little chilly, BUT there was no one there, which was awesome.

Logan brought his cat with him. In the photo below, he's looking at the pretty birds outside the restrooms by the entrance. I love those birds.

Playing "peek-a-boo" with the stroller shade.

Our first stop at the zoo is always the carousel. Ethan chose the Eagle to ride this time. I kept thinking about the Lord of the Rings eagles while watching him.

Logan enjoyed his ride on a regular horse. He enjoyed it in the end, but he did not want to get on at first. He was having a bit of an "off"day that day.

Ethan kept asking me to take his photo at various places, which I was happy to do.

Riding the elephants...since practically no one was there, we had them to ourselves for a while.

Having a snack and looking at the animals in the Giants of the Savannah exhibit. I love this newer part of the zoo. Not because it is new, but because it's designed really well and the animals are always visible. And it really does remind me of Africa.

Mimi bought each of the boys a stuffed animal at the gift shop...Logan got a macaw (above), and Ethan got a red eyed tree frog (below). You will notice in the rest of the photos that neither one of them was very far from their new friend that day...they are still keeping them close at home too.

The Land Rover is always a fun stop. Again, made even more fun this time by the fact that no one was there that we had to share it with.

Another great thing about this day at the zoo was that we saw a lot more animals than we have on warmer days. We did not get to feed the giraffes because they were (inexplicably) not hungry that morning (a big disappointment), but we still got to see them up close. And several other animals too.

This cheetah sat right in front of the window the whole time we were there (at least 10 minutes) and probably longer than that. I could not believe how still it was. It literally stared at us, but didn't move. It really gave us a good look at how big and beautiful it was.

Ethan loved "tracking" the animals and guessing what we'd see next based on what tracks we saw.

The boys checking out the crocodiles. This one came close and opened his mouth for us.

On our previous visits, the boys have not shown no interest in playing on the animal statues, but on this visit, they stopped at almost every single one.

No trip to the zoo would be complete without a ride on the monorail. Or "choo choo" as Logan calls it.

Right after the monorail ride, we stopped at the nearby tables to eat our picnic lunch. I love that the Dallas Zoo allows you to bring your own food.

The tiger was just another one of the many animals that we got a good, long look at that day.

Then, came the birds. This was the last thing we did at the zoo that day, but probably the most fun.

Logan was a good sport, but not too sure about the birds...but he was sure that he didn't want to hold one or have one land on him.

Ethan, on the other hand, was in heaven. Our animal-loving child had the best time holding the birds. He was thrilled. This is probably why this was my favorite part of our day...because he enjoyed it so much.

We didn't buy the food for the birds, but they were more than willing to come and sit on us anyway.

Despite the fact that it was colder than we would have liked, (I really enjoyed the car heater when we packed up to head home), this was a really fun trip to the zoo and I'm so glad we got to enjoy everything without crowds.