Oregon Zoo with Friends

On July 24th we met the VanderZanden family at the zoo. My brother, Brett, was visiting from Florida so he and my mom went with us too. We hadn't been to the zoo in a couple of years so the kids were super excited to return and see the animals and new exhibits. 

First up were the sea otters. The kids really enjoyed the one that kept swimming right up on the viewing window. Ella couldn't get close enough. 

Then we visited the penguins but they weren't too exciting so we snapped a couple of photos by the wood carved and painted penguins instead. 

Nicholas and Kayla are only three-weeks apart in age, both with SMA, and Ella and Emmy are just five-months apart so they quickly became fast friends. They were walking behind the group at one point and I turned around to find them like this, together holding hands, chatting about the zoo. It was adorable!

Shawna got Kayla out of her stroller so she could try to get a better view of the Asian Sun Bear. 

Can you spot him?

Then we made our way to the primate exhibit. Ella and Emmy started acting like monkeys, climbing on the fence rails to get a closer view of the baboons. 

The little girls got to climb on "monkey swings" at the end of the primate exhibit.

After the primates, we made our way into the Amazon and saw a huge Anaconda, piranhas, and lots of huge tropical fish. 

Nicholas really wanted to see the elephants, but their enclosure is being updated so it was under construction. We couldn't get very close to them, but stopped to eat some lunch and could view them through the construction fences. 

Then we were off to see the pride of lions. 

 Ella didn't care about the actual lions as much as she just wanted to climb the lion structure. 

 She finally made it to the top and was so pleased with herself. 

Next was the giraffes. 

Then we found our way to the alligator. Ella wanted to give him a kiss. I was glad he was behind thick glass. 

The flamingos were a new addition since our last visit. We all enjoyed looking at their pretty pink coats and tried to spot their baby eggs. 

 Nicholas and Kayla both enjoyed the bats exhibit. But the bats were kind of boring, we assumed it was nap time, so we didn't stay there too long. They also totally creep me out so I was happy to keep exploring. 

Ella begged for ice-cream so before we headed home, we found Dippin' Dots, a shady spot, and sat to let the kiddos enjoy some ice-cream, Nicholas and Kayla included. 

 It was such a fun and memorable day!