Memorial Day Weekend...day two

Day two...SAINT LOUIS ZOO!!!!!

I was surprised to learn that the zoo is free...that's right, zero dollars! Parking is $11, but my friend, Melody told me that you can park on the street, by a park, for free. We did that. Thanks for the tip Melody! Even though we had to walk a mile to the zoo, it was worth saving the moolah!

We did "splurge" and get the Safari pass for each of us. It is normally $10 a person, but the Grahams gave us a coupon and it only ended up being $20 for all four of us! The safari pass included the children's zoo, a train ride, a merry-go-round ride, a motion simulator ride (we didn't do this), and admission to the sea lion show. Well worth every cent!

We didn't get to the zoo until 11am. We slept in a little bit (8:30) and then took our time eating breakfast, packing the lunches and getting dressed. By the time we arrived, it was already pretty warm. But, we were still excited!

Matthew took the majority of the pictures (and as you can see, above, Nora took the little camera again and took pictures...although I am having trouble locating the cord to download the pictures...). He did a pretty good job!

Look at this poor lion, only 11am and ready to call it a day!

Even though I am 33, I like to stay up on the current trends. One of the trends I have noticed for the past year or so is the "hand on the hip if you are one of the bookends in a picture" trend. I thought, heck, I'll give it a try. It must be figure flattering or all the high school/college girls wouldn't be doing it. It's not as slimming as I hoped it would be.

The zoo has a few of these misting stations set up around for the kids to run through and cool off in. The girls loved it!

Look at this poor, poor camel. Is this not the ugliest camel you have ever seen in your life? I know she is DYING that she hasn't had time to get to the beauty shop. But look, she has an infant camel to care for. And with getting up every two hours to nurse that baby and making sure it is taken care of, she has just let herself go.

It's obvious that the baby camel is about 4 months old...the mama's hair is all falling out. What her other camel friends were envious of when she was pregnant (the lush, thick coat) is starting to really affect her appearance adversely now.

When we walked into the zoo I said to Matthew, "Wouldn't it be crazy if we knew someone!" Well, guess what! We saw someone that we knew! A guy that Matthew graduated from high school with, Scott Shearin, and his family. I insisted we get a group picture. And I went with the "hand on my hip" move again. You must have to be a teenager/early 20's for it to properly work.

GO ROOS! (my high school mascot)

Are these not the craziest tan lines you have ever seen? Who was helping her with the sunscreen?

We went to see a sea lion show. It was a very nice break from the heat and it turned out to be one of Nora's favorite things.

After the sea lion show, it was off to the merry-go-round (which Matthew constantly corrected "carousel").

Elyn on her elephant!

Nora loved the sea lion show so much she insisted that she ride one!

And there I am, on my zebra. About 5 seconds after this picture was taken I was asked to get off and stand beside Elyn "because she is under 4". Seriously?

Ha ha ha ha ha! Matthew took this picture of the large man riding the very small raccoon. Hilarious!

After we saw the bears, it was time for the train ride.

And then a quick visit to the children's zoo...

We did happen upon a show at the children's zoo. The trainer asked for a mom to come up to the stage. Well, no one volunteered! So, I did! (And after looking at this picture, I think that the "hands on the hips" might have been a better choice for a pose...I can't win.) Basically, I was supposed to hold a stick and point it to where I wanted a squirrel to go...A SQUIRREL! I was not aware of the animal before I volunteered.

You can see the look of terror on my face. In my head I was saying, "Please don't run down my arm and bite my nose, please don't run down my arm and bite my nose, please don't run down my arm and bite my nose..."! Thankfully, I survived.

Then all the kids had a turn on stage...

After seeing a few more animals, we called it a day. We were at the zoo for FIVE HOURS! I don't think I have ever been at ANY zoo for 5 hours!

We thought we might as well eat dinner before going back to the hotel. We figured once we got there, we weren't going to want to get out again.

Elyn fell asleep about 30 seconds after we put her in the car after the zoo. Here is Matthew walking her into the pizza place we ate at...

Our children have NEVER slept this deeply unless they are in their bed...thank you St. Louis Zoo!

The zoo was amazing! We are so glad that we went. Stay tuned for our last day...