Christmas in July - Zoo Pics!

I know these posts haven't been the most interesting text-wise.  They're more like photo dumps, so I apologize if you're wanting more commentary.  The truth is, I have tons that I want to blog, so I'm just trying to play catch up with these Cincinnati pictures.  :) 

We spent our last day in Ohio at the zoo and had so much fun.  We love the Cincinnati Zoo!  It was HOT, but we made the most of it.

I have no idea why these pics uploaded out of order, but enjoy them nonetheless.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

Time to get started on our trip back to Ohio.  So let's set the scene...  It's our first time flying with both kids.  Paying for three tickets was already crazy enough, so we tried to limit the bags we had to check.  We arrived at the airport with a large suitcase, two duffel bags, a smaller rolling suitcase, my Vera bag that was doubling as my purse/diaper bag/camera case, Gavin's carseat in a carseat case, Riley in the Moby wrap, and her carseat with the snap-n-go stroller.  Exhausted yet?  We were quite the scene.  

Of course everyone was thrilled to see us, and we were just as happy to be there.  After visiting for a little bit, it was time to get the kids in bed.  Gavin slept in my parents' room, Riley slept with us in my sister's room, which was also my old room.  It was kind of funny to lay in the bed and look around the room, remembering what it looked like when I lived there.  Her walls are a lime green and this bright blue color, and it made me think back to when my choice of color for the room was BRIGHT yellow.  Why do young girls have such bad taste? :)

We spent the next day hitting up the zoo!  Jarrod and I love the Cincinnati Zoo, and it was great to take the kids.  We had a fantastic time with all our family there - my family and Jarrod's!

Gav with his aunt and uncle in front of the gorgeous zoo tree!

I missed this guy!

Just like her brother, Riley slept through her first trip to the zoo!

Gavin learned something really cool from Beepa...let's shake the bamboo plants!  Just as we saw two zookeepers walking toward us and I told Gavin to stop (hoping they wouldn't notice), my dad goes right over to it again and starts shaking it like crazy!  Such a great role model.  :)  

I love these boys so much!

Checking out an exhibit with Uncle Travis

 

More from the trip coming tomorrow!

 

Wild Wilderness Drive Thru Safari - Part 2

Well, this post ended up with a lot of photos - so forgive me! The Drive Thru Safari also had a petting zoo part. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen. Animals just wandering around, eating out of your hand. There are some pictures where Gavin's feeding through a fence, but it was simply because we didn't make it into the area. You could literally walk up to so many animals!

Feeding the goats ~ this was the first thing we did when we got out of the car and Gavin ran straight to them.

Feeding the pig ~ this was really cute! His teeth were quite long and ugly...so I told Gavin to be careful. Later that day, I was asking him about our day, and he was telling me what animals he fed bread to. When he got to the pig, he said, "Be careful of his teeth!" :)

Here come the donkeys! And once they got fed, they just kept following me!

How cool is this? When was the last time you got to pet a kangaroo???

Jarrod petting a 2 month old tiger cub through the fence while we waited for our turn to go into his cage.

This 9 month old monkey really liked getting her belly rubbed!

Finally our turn to go in with the tiger cub - unfortunately, Gavin wasn't all that interested....

....but Jarrod was!

Gavin had a blast chasing the ducks, turkeys, peacocks, and chickens around. It was so cute!

Feeding the chicken some bread

Throwing some bread pieces for the peacock to go get

Another big pig to visit with!

Just more proof that this place is a great day trip! We'll definitely be going back and probably taking anyone that comes to visit to see the "Safari!" :)