Spring Break post #3: Choo choo, what a zoo!

After seeing the crowds at the Children's Museum the day before, we made sure to arrive at the zoo a little before opening so we could try to get a good parking spot.  Ha!  The parking lot was busier than I've ever seen it. We had to park on the street - and almost missed out on those spots by having to wait to turn around.  It was a zoo (hee hee, pun intended).  But, there was no line at the train and not many people in front of the entrance, so I am not sure where all those people were.  It was a bit odd. 

Leighton and Riley asked to go on the train and since there was no line, we figured it was a great time to go.

Then it was off to the zoo.  Always nice to have a membership and bypass the growing lines!

As the visitor, Kirsten got first choice of animals to see and chose to the elephants, so off we went.  They were all out and were being very playful (last time I took the kids we saw one playing in the water, too).

Leighton (and Riley) chose next and wanted to see (and be!) the monkeys again.

Since we used up a lot of our zoo time on the train, it was now departure time, but the weather was beautiful and the kids were having a great time, so we decided to have lunch at the zoo and skip Riley's nap again.  I had fruit for the kids again, so I fed them that while Grandma got in line (JUST in time, it got loooong quickly) for the burgers.

After lunch, we visited the giraffes and then spent a long time in the children's zoo.  By that time, the crowds had really set it, but it's not as restricting as indoor places, so we didn't mind.

The kids were getting tired, so we took Kirsten to the aquarium section and then found our (hot) car.

When we got home, there was more playing outside until Daddy got home and we went inside for dinner.  We also had one of our massive trees taken down out front (in such a short time, I couldn't believe it), but I will save those photos for a big landscaping/planting/gardening post coming soon!