a wet zoo good-bye

over the weekend the zoo opened a new exhibit that has been under construction for at least a year.  we didn't think that nana would want to do that for her birthday (plus we figured that it would be super crowded) so we thought that it would be perfect for today.  they needed to leave town around 2pm (they were driving to indiana to visit more family) and we don't usually last much later than that at the zoo.  i had a small concern that it might be crowded with day camps today but it proved to be a great day to go.  it did drizzle almost the entire time we were there but i didn't find it to be too bothersome and everything was nice and cool.

papa on the rope bridge

i think papa emptied out his pockets with the kids so that they could watch the coins roll down. 

peek-a-boo manning and maddux

peek-a-boo manning and papa

the new part of the zoo is called grizzly ridge.  it was beautiful and the kids were really, really excited to see the animals that haven't been on display during construction (their old areas were torn down to make this brand new section).

one last group shot 

little 'birds' in a nest

one of the things i thought was the coolest was the clear tube slide through the river otter exhibit, it went through the otter's tank at the bottom of the slide!

look at these crazy critters! 

and we took a spin around the carousel on our way out - papa and nana's treat.  i rode with manning since it was his very first time and uncle derek rode with maddux - madelyn and mason were tall enough to ride on their own.  if maddux grows about two more inches, i will be able to take the kids by myself.

and then it was time to say good-bye.  mason was in really rare form today (he is just tired and overstimulated from all the traveling, late nights and visitors).  he almost missed out on saying good-bye.  we were all sad to say good-bye but i think everyone had a nice visit.  it was nice that uncle derek was able to join us too since we missed him when we came through atlanta because he was out of town.

now we get to have almost two weeks with no major schedule!  i think this is the longest stretch all summer.  i am not sure how that happened...  love.