the columbus zoo

we (well, maybe "i") have been looking forward to a trip to the columbus zoo since we moved to ohio and today was the day!  we had a really beautiful day for the zoo and the columbus zoo lives up to the hype.  it was the perfect size for kids and there was a lot to see.  not only were there a lot of animals, but there were a lot of varieties of each type of animal (i.e. bears - sun, polar, grizzly, brown).  well worth the drive and we are already ready to going back again sometime in the future.

unfortunately, we didn't get any family pictures or even a single one with matt or i but madelyn did insist on taking a picture with almost every single statue we saw.  the problem was that the kids were so excited that they wouldn't look at the camera - at least not all at the same time.

with a hammer head

this one's for you grandma! 

only madelyn and mason were brave enough to touch the snake.

all four with the manatees.  manning was pretty happy to get out of the stroller.

they were able to get within three feet of a 'friendly' kangaroo.

manning was able to get very close too.

i think manning had the most fun of everyone.   he loves being able to see  everything from the front of the stroller.

sitting in a sample of the largest, stinkiest flower in the world - it was maddux' idea.

they had at least two very large play areas with a separate section for  little crawlers - manning was thrilled.

a little change of pace with the statues.  there was a little wait at this one and everyone wanted a turn sitting in the gorilla's hand so we had to wait in line a few times to get all of these.

this was a brand new baby gorilla (i think she said 10 weeks).  today was the first day it had walked.  

and there were lots more babies to be seen.  next was a baby chimp getting 'termites' out of a hole with a stick with it's mommy.  she kept pushing his mouth away from the hole so that she could use the stick.  it was a little funny.

i loved this one of maddux with the baby rhino.

madelyn loves bats and these were the biggest ones she had ever seen.

i just liked all the tails on these monkeys sitting in a row.

manning took a nap in the 'flip top head' position.  this seems to be his new favorite position for sleeping because he did it every time in the car too.

madelyn and maddux were pretty excited about the baby elephant too.

we came across a story time too and madelyn and mason got front row seats - much to madelyn's delight.  madelyn got to be part of the story too.

they had a neat petting zoo where instead of feeding the goats, the kids got to brush them.  it was so nice because the goats weren't swarming the kids but enjoyed having the kids come by and brush them.  more places should do it this way!  even maddux was brave enough to go in after he saw how calm the goats were with the kids.

we had a wonderful and relaxing day at the zoo.  i was so happy that we were able to go on a weekday instead of a weekend.  it was busy but not crowded. 

it was still relatively early in the day so we stopped at a grocery store to load up on some snacks and then head to our hotel.  such a blessing to have had today.  love.