A Quick Zoo Trip

Despite being barely a week away from winter, we had a balmy day and decided to take a morning trip down to the zoo. 

It turned out that the theme of the day was "Nap"... The gorillas were sleeping.

The lions were laying down.

The chimpanzees were enjoying a siesta. Isn't anyone awake???

Well, the otters were.

And so were the seals, who were having a great time wrestling for an audience.

 The bobcat was restless

 and the bison and elk were grazing.

And of course, there's always the children, who are a herd of active animals all their own. :)

Washington DC - July 2018 - Part 5 - The National Zoo and Wrapping Up.

While Rebecca and Olivia wore out their shoes, I brought the rest of the herd to the zoo to visit family. 😂 The National Zoo has a lot of great exhibits and i was slack in getting pictures of them, but the kids loved seeing the various animals. 

 We got to see the baby gorilla that had recently been born. So cute!!!!

We organized the trip so that we entered at one end of the zoo and walked to the other where we would meet up with Rebecca and Olivia after their trek. On the way back through, we stopped and saw the pandas! These guys are my spirit animals... Lay about, eat a ton of food, do nothing... Yup. Count me in.

 On another day, the whole family went to see an IMAX movie about a panda rehabilitation center in China and follow a panda from birth to release in the wild. It was absolutely amazing!

 Of course, we also got to see Rebecca's favorites: the otters. 

I will say this: if you're going to the National Zoo, beware: It's a long way uphill from the Rock Creek Park side of the zoo. If you come in from the Connecticut Ave side, it's downhill, but then you either have to walk out the Rock Creek side to find a bus/metro stop or you have to walk all the way back uphill to the Connecticut Ave entrance.

That's all I have in the way of pictures, but there was so much more to the trip. We got to visit with Nana, Pop-Pop, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Vicky, Uncle Rudy and Aunt DD, Uncle Greg, Kira, Aiden, Max, Vivi, and even some of the DC cousins! Olivia also got to see the National Archives where she was able to view the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. There was so much more we wanted to see, like Arlington, Mount Vernon, and the Arboretum, but there just wasn't enough time. Looks like we'll have to arrange another trip soon!

A Trip to the Zoo

It had been forever since we all went to the zoo, so when some of our friends organized a trip, we went along. Funny part was that it was actually cheaper for our whole family to become Zoo Members than it was to just pay for a single day. With the membership, we can go as many times as we want all year and not have to pay again!

 We were there a little earlier than most of the group, so we went to the kids' play area for a while. There was a "stream" that they could splash in, a rope bridge to climb and an outdoor "kitchen" to make mud pies, mud cakes, or any other mud-based recipes they wanted. Of course, this is where Irene wanted to be... :)

There was also a live falcon that one of the workers brought out for the kids to see. 

Once the rest of the group arrived, it was time to go see some animals! Ezra took a map and navigated for us, marking off the places we'd already been.

 Along the way, we saw the polar bear swimming laps,

 a herd of bison standing or sitting majestically, 

various apes and monkeys,

and otters being silly. 

We also saw zebras,

 giraffes,

and these elephants, who were being fed while we were watching, so they came as close as the facility allowed in order to get the carrots and apples the workers were tossing out. 

   

 We had such a great time and we can't wait to go back soon!

Zoo Trip

My Aunt Kelly came up for a visit and spent a couple of nights with us. We took the opportunity to take a trip to the zoo. It was lots of fun for all. I do admit to counting it as a field trip day for school too since it fits in well with our school curriculum, animals and ecosystems, right? :)