open to close at the cleveland zoo

last week, i mentioned that the weather on thursday was gorgeous and i had thought about going to the cleveland zoo with the kids. today was going to be even better weather and i just couldn't say 'no' again. so off we went. i had packed enough lunch and snacks for twice as many people but they barely got us through the day! it must have been all the walking...

the kids wanted to do the "rainforest" first before going into the zoo (normally we do it on our way out).

i tried to get all of the kids to pose by the waterfall, but mason was the only one willing

we aren't even in the zoo yet and manning is already laying on the ground... this might have been a huge mistake.

after we finished up with the "rainforest" we finally made our way over to the zoo. and the "camera happy" kids were on the move! posing one at a time in front of everything that they thought was neat. i have four pictures of almost every one of these backgrounds.

a "sweet" elephant. (madelyn is wearing one of my old kansas city hats from papa and nana one christmas when we lived there.)

we managed to only stop at one of these photo boards but manning would not give up his spot so it took three pictures to get all four kids.

there were a lot of babies at the zoo - giraffe, meerkat, monkeys, rhino. we stayed to watch the baby meerkats for a while. they were very active and didn't just hide under their mother the whole time (although, they are under their mom in the picture here). plus, they were easy for the kids to see due to the set up of the exhibit.

pretty much from the time we got there, mason voiced his intent on seeing the rhinoceros. we had missed it when we went to the kansas city zoo and it is his favorite animal. their was a zoo volunteer at the exhibit and let us hold a rhino horn (a 'small' one)! they are much heavier than they look. mason asked for his picture in front of the mommy rhino (whose mother is also still on the property). down in the shade on the left side of the picture is her 'baby' - a two-year-old male rhino.

since papa, nana and big pop all love and collect giraffes, we had to stop to take a picture with them. we thought it was neat to see the largest one laying down in the sunny grass (over maddux and mason) and there was also a very young one (well under one year - very difficult to see just over madelyn's head)! the baby almost looked fake. less like a baby and more like a miniature. 

this pretty much sums up maddux - drinking water and being silly. this kid must be part camel.

we got over to the seals and sea lions a little earlier than i planned and had to wait for an hour to see their training demonstration (which i had made the mistake of mentioning to the kids over lunch). madelyn really wanted to see it but there wasn't anything else over there to see so we just sat and waited. the exhibit really isn't set up for viewing. there is a high wall that you can stand next to and look down into the tank, but it is almost impossible for kids to see anything without being held and you are not allowed to have them stand or sit on the wall (even though there is a railing and net to keep them from falling in). not ideal at all but madelyn begged and begged to stay. at least the kids enjoyed the show.

this was a really neat playground where everything was made out of natural wood (not made into boards). they even had a 'kitchen' with log slices as plates.

the kids were thrilled to see that they were all tall enough to go on a really big slide. manning chickened out though because it was a tube slide and had to come down the stairs. the other three had a great time and went down several times. the slide was at the top of a 'tree' and twisted around it on the way down. they had to cross this rope bridge to get there.

we took this one on the way out, mason would have nothing to do with a group picture.

we were only leaving because the zoo was closing! we were there from open until close! i really could not believe that we made it all day. manning napped a little in the stroller, but the kids walked the entire time! and there was a lot of walking. it is a fairly large property and parts have limited access which causes you to have to double back and do a lot of extra walking.

we really did have a great day! i couldn't have planned for much better weather or behavior. there were moments of crying but there was not a single complaint about being tired or about so much walking (which was utterly shocking!).

our plan was to drive the hour home and for me to quickly make dinner (it is daddy's golf night). but i needed to stop and pick up some more milk on the way. i just wasn't sure if it would be pushing my luck to try and stop for milk. so i thought of a 'plan b.' we were going to drive by where our apartment used to be and i remembered that earth fare has family night on thursdays. as luck would have it, we hit rush hour (aka stopped) traffic at that exit which made my choice for me.

i had forgotten how nice the family night is at earth fare. for the cost of my sandwich with chips ($6.49), we got all four kids' meals free! with a $5 purchase you can get up to 6 kids' meals for free every thrusday. can you believe it? the kids all get to choose their entree and the meal come with carrots (with either hummus or ranch), grapes and a water bottle. we used to do this a lot on thursday nights when we lived up there so it was a nice treat. plus, i got to pick up a few groceries while we were there.

when we got back on the road, rush hour was over and the drive was very uneventful. such a wonderful day. we were all sad that daddy "missed out." love.