On Friday morning of our "stay-cation", we got up early and headed down to the zoo. The new Elephant Passage is finally open, so we were really excited to see it! It opened on June 1, and since they anticipate heavy crowds all throughout the summer, you have to reserve an entrance time online to the exhibit. So, we reserved a 9:15 time spot, right after the zoo opened at 9:00. We wanted to get in right away and see it all!
The elephants seem very happy in their new home. They have a lot more space to roam and around and play in. I heard that they plan on getting around 5 more elephants in the future!
There is also a new home for the rhino. He was enjoying the cool mud on this hot day!
There is an indoor exhibit that houses river otters. The kids got an underwater view from this little cave.
Also inside this exhibit are the flying foxes. They are the world's largest bats, with up to a 5 foot wingspan! They were absolutely huge (and creepy!)
There is a cool little lake that has a bridge all the way around it. These gibbons are allowed to swing and climb on ropes that cross right over the bridge and all the people. Payton and Brady (and Wes) kept saying that if they were a gibbon, they would poop!
After exploring the new exhibit, we walked down to the new amphitheatre for a little show. We weren't sure what to expect because the zoo map said you might see an elephant, rhino, or tapir. We were so happy when Bodee the Elephant came walking up.
Bodee did a few tricks, then he walked back off the peninsula and got into the water. It's about 12 feet deep, so he got to go for a nice cool swim. We haven't ever seen an elephant swim before, it was really cool. Payton thought it was funny when Bodee pooped in the water and it floated to the top!
After the show we headed over by the polar bears and sea lions to have lunch. There used to be a stinky duck pond right behind the polar bears. They took that out and made a really nice little stream where the kids can wade. We cooled off there and ate our lunch in the shade.
After lunch it was time for Tropical Discovery. Wes's favorite game in Tropical Discovery is racing to find whatever animal is in each exhibit. He and Brady were pretty close to tied.
This crocodile didn't even look real.
We were all pretty hot and tired by the time we got done with Tropical Discovery, so we decided to go through the feline house and then head home. Boy were we glad we did. This leapord had just had a little baby 11 weeks earlier. It was so cute, Payton was IN LOVE! I couldn't get a picture of the two of them together because the baby was so active.
Meanwhile, this is what Landon decided to do...so we decided to see a few more things!
Bears! This big male bear was hogging to bones. The little female was trying so hard to sneak up and grab one of the bones, but every time she got close, the male would pounce and scare her off!
This pic looks like they are kissing, but they were actually wrestling for the bone.
Again, Payton was IN LOVE.
Our last stop was Bird World. I do NOT like Bird World. I think it's stinky, humid, and you really don't see too many birds. But, Brady wanted to explore, so he took these pictures on my camera. I edited them a bit, but he did a good job finding the birds and zooming in on them.
We had a really fun time at the zoo and on our stay-cation. It was so fun to have Wes home with us for a day or two. It's really nice to spend time as a family.
2 comments:
We've been wanting to see the new elephant exhibit too! It looks really neat! Seems like the animals were all really active the day you were there! So fun!
Your "elephant passage" visit sounded just like ours. Any time ella talks about elephants it usually goes something like this, " Elephant poop in water... gross!" We LOVED seeing Bodee swim too. Who knew they could swim so well? Glad you enjoyed it. Loving your "stay-cation" posts!
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