Randalls and the Zoo: Take Two!

What a fun and fantastic Friday! The weather was gorgeous and we got to go to Hogle Zoo with Melinda and her three cute girls. I love that the boys and I can get in for free since the Randalls are zoo members AND that we can all drive up together in one van. What fun!

It's also nice that our families are on similar schedules so we can get to the zoo early before it gets hot and crowded. Of course the first thing we had to check out was the water ball at the zoo. It's always a favorite for the kids.

This time we decided to head over to the playground first thing. That way the kids could play on all the fun equipment while it was still cool. They had a great time, and aren't they a cute bunch of little hatchlings?

Then we all had to take our turn inside the tortoise shell. Here are my Jacob and Ephraim turtles.

Melinda wasn't sure that I would fit inside the shell, but I think it looks best on me, don't you?

I love all the fun play equipment at the zoo. The kids went down the python slide, climbed on the spider web, and played on the springy teeter totter. Here are the kids riding on a crocodile.

When we were done at the playground we decided it was the perfect time to take our ride on the train. When I told the boys where we were going this morning the first thing Ephraim wanted to know was if we were riding the train. They all just love it. This time the kiddos decided to all ride together. Aren't they cute?

I turned into the official photographer for our zoo trip, which I figure is fair since I have one less kid. Here is one of my favorite pictures for the day; Melinda and her girls on the train.

When our train ride was over we went and watched the elephant show. Jacob absolutely loves elephants right now, and it was fun to see all the things that Christy the elephant could do. The boys enjoyed watching her flap her ears, trumpet, left her legs, and retrieve objects. They also thought baby Zuri was really cute.

After the elephant show we had to stop at the restrooms next to the carousel. Since there was no one riding we decided to go ahead and take our ride. We had the whole carousel to ourselves, which was so much fun. Here are the boys on their rides of choice. Ephraim rode a leopard and Jacob rode the elephant (of course!).

Next we checked out Asian Highlands. The big cats were pretty cool, but I always like to visit my favorite vintage bike.

Next we went to see the giraffes. We got to see one up close, which was pretty cool. Melinda took this nice picture of me with the boys, which proves that I was there at the zoo too!

On our way back through the zoo we stopped and saw the penguins. Today they were actually swimming around in the water, splashing their flippers and having a great time. It was hilarious because they would get in, splash around, and get out. Then two seconds later they would all get in and do it all over again. Silly penguins!

We also stopped to see Akari on our way back through the zoo. She is a young orangutan that the Randalls are very fond of. I got this pretty nice picture of her hanging out on the log platform.

We finally made it up the last hill and back to the van. The timing was perfect because the kids (and mommies) were all getting tired and hot. It was incredible how crowded the parking lot (and the zoo for that matter) was getting when we left.

We had a great day at the zoo! We may have to look into getting our own zoo membership sometime in the future because the boys just love it!