The Zoo

On Day 3 of our vacation, we ventured to the zoo.  It was hot.  Like 108 hot.  At least at 7:30 am, when we started our day, it was only like 92.  It's funny, on vacations pre-Aria, Justin and I would stay out late and sleep in.  Our days rarely began before 10.  With Aria, planning to leave the hotel by 7:15 to get to the zoo by 8 was no big deal.  We went to bed early the night before and packed our lunch, water, and cold washcloths to survive the heat.  The St. Louis Zoo is really awesome!  First of all, it is free.  It really doesn't get much more awesome than that.  Parking is supposed to cost $15, but apparently, when you arrive around 7:45 am, you don't have to pay for that, either.  Also, in the first hour the zoo is open, several children's activities are also free, like the carousel. 

It's free--that means you've got to go twice, right?!?

We actually were most excited to go into the children's zoo during that first hour, but it was a huge disappointment.  The website talked about all kinds of hands on activities with petting and feeding animals, but there was absolutely nothing to do at 8:00 am when we got there.  In fact, the only animals we saw in the entire children's area were a couple donkeys.  The otters (always my favorite) weren't out.  No goats to feed.  We were pretty frustrated.  So we left and went to pet the sting rays and sharks.  That was another free in the first hour activity and was really cool.  It was a huge pool with tons of sting rays and a few shy sharks that you could reach your hand in to pet.  Aria didn't want to pet them, but she loved watching them swim and Justin and I enjoyed it.  We definitely made good use of our first hour free time even if the children's zoo was a disappointment.

If you ask Aria, she'll tell you her favorite animal at the zoo was the zebra.

She was very excited to see the zebras, but I think she is also focused on going to the zoo during z week to see the zebras.  While it was fun to see the zebras, she actually got a pretty big kick out of the hyenas who were chasing each other around their pen.

Besides otters, my great animal love has always been penguins and the penguin exhibit at the St. Louis Zoo was phenomenal.  Not only was it great to go in the 60 degree building on a hot day, but you could get so close to the penguins.  Their pool didn't have any kind of barrier other than the glass that enclosed it, so we could have reached out and easily touched the penguins had there not been an armed guard there to stop us.  Okay, maybe he wasn't armed, but it was obviously against the rules to pet the penguins.  Anyway, we were frequently splashed by the penguins as they jumped and swam around in their pool.  They were fun for Aria to watch because they were so active.  Pictures couldn't capture their activity and the video takes to long to download, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

 FYI- That is just a statue outside of the penguin building.  :)

The best part of the zoo for all of us was definitely the sea lion show.  They have a new area at the zoo called, "Sea Lion Sound."  It had one of those awesome tunnels where you were walking through the sea lion's pool and could see them above you and on both sides.  Phenomenal!

We bought tickets for the show and found some shade to watch.  It was so cool!  I can't even begin to do justice in trying to describe it or show pictures.  First they brought out two female, two-year-old pups, which Aria loved because they were two like her.  They did a variety of tricks, including following commands from two kid volunteers pulled out of the crowd. 

Then they brought out a ginormous eight-year-old male who was trained to do so much more.  The most amazing thing for me was when he jumped in, traveled the length of his pool, hopped out, and then rolled across the deck all with a basketball on his nose.  It was just so awesome! 

Aria's favorite trick was definitely when Benny, the big male, went down the slide. 

Overall, it was just an awesome experience for all three of us and I'm so glad we went!  It is so fun to have Aria at an age where she will sit still and enjoy things like that and talk about it weeks later!

When we ventured back outside after eating lunch in an air conditioned building, we really began to feel the heat.  You know, 108 is hot, shade and cold washcloths or not.  We tried to zoom to a few animals on our list yet to see and were ready to go a little after 1:00.  The heat may have kept us from spending as much time as we wanted at each animal, but it didn't stop us from seeing all that we went to see.  It is a great zoo and we had a great time.  I think it was the highlight of Aria's trip because it is what she still talks about the most!  One of my favorite parts of the day actually happened at bedtime the day of the zoo.  This was Aria's prayer, "Dear God, thank you for the zoo and the museum and the sea lions and the penguins and the zebras and the giraffes and the eagles, no wait they didn't have any eagles, and the lions and the elephants and the monkeys and the turtles, Amen!"  It was just adorable.  She was dragging out the name of each animal and doing it in a sing-songy voice, too.  I just love to hear a glimpse of what happens inside of her head.  What a great day!