Another Zoo Outing

Friday evening we made a trek down to Columbia, SC for a members-only zoo night. Mistakenly, we thought it would be a slightly cooler, less busy time to visit the zoo! Evidently every zoo member thought the same thing. Not only was it HOT, but it was CROWDED. Oh well, we still had a blast.

One thing we're discovering with the younger girls (9, 4 and 2)is we forget we haven't done things with them that we did with Torie and Michaela (20 and 14). On this outing we discovered that the younger girls had never ridden a Merry-Go-Round or tasted an Icee. That had to be remedied!!

I confess we saw very few animals Friday evening. The zoo was only open from 6-8 p.m., but the girls did ride the Merry-Go-Round, not once, but twice and they loved it!! (Special thanks to Torie and Michaela for riding it not once, but twice...you can see the slight blue look on their faces after going round and round that many times.)





The Icee's were another story...the girls really wanted to like them...but only AnnaGrace actually enjoyed drinking hers. After the picture, each of the girls found a trash can to deposit her beverage into.



While the little girls sipped their Icees, Torie and I just pitifully eyed the "closed" Starbucks sign...sigh.



After we left the zoo, we went back to the hotel and went swimming. The girls loved swimming after dark, and then thought it was an extra special treat to order pizza for dinner at 10 p.m. at night!








After a good night's sleep and a leisurely morning at the hotel, it was back to the zoo to actually see the animals...




Sarah Mei asking Torie, "Is that a male or female lion? And is a male a boy or a girl?" She still can't quite keep that straight.




Oh My....Look at that Gorilla!!






When Sarah Mei got tired, she took the spot in Isabelle's stroller. Isabelle thought it was great fun to try to push; however, Sarah Mei wasn't sure they were making enough forward progress.



Next we fed the Lorikeets. This was another first for Sarah Mei and Isabelle. Torie showed them how it was done!









This Lorikeet was getting a little up close and personal with Michaela.


I think Torie and Michaela were just relieved to survive the Lorikeets!!



At the end of our time at the zoo, Phil took Sarah Mei and AnnaGrace through the Rain Forest exhibit. The older girls and I just couldn't face the humidity in the exhibit with the humidity outside, but the little girls enjoyed seeing the fish!!



By 2:00, the heat chased us home, but it was another great outing and family time! We love the diversity of the animals at the zoo. Who else but an awesome God could create such an array of magnificent creatures!