A trip to the zoo

Tuesday afternoon after Tim got off work; we decided to take a visit to the zoo.

We love the zoo!
We used to have a membership  and we went all the time, but it expired last spring and we haven't gotten another one. Still, we enjoy going to see the animals.
Usually, the zoo is kind of pricey- $15/adult and $10/kids 2 and up. (really?!)

BUT on Tuesday afternoons, for residents of Tennessee it is FREE.
Yup. Awesome, right? All you have to do is show them your drivers licence, and bam! You are in.
We have definitely taken advantage of that. The kids and I went two weeks ago on Tuesday as well. Now that the weather has cooled down, it's a lot more pleasant to walk around and not sweat to death.

The kids love seeing the animals, and they also enjoy looking at the waterfalls that seem to be in every exhibit. Its funny, when Ethan was a baby, he didn't even care about the animals. All he wanted to see was the waterfalls and fountains! He would get so excited, and wiggle all around and screech at them, and grin and try to reach them. We would try to get him to look at the bears and elephants and monkeys, but all he wanted to see was the water cascading down over the fake rocks.

Now at the ripe old age of four he is more interested in the animals but he still enjoys the water features as well. :)

This picture is from last year, when Ethan was more enamored with water than the animals. :)

This particular visit to the zoo, the animals were especially interactive. Sometimes they just kind of lay there and we look at them for a second then move on; but for whatever reason (maybe the cooler weather?) the animals were way more active and alert.

We saw the giraffes:

I have to say..something really gross happened while we were admiring those gorgeous brown and white markings and the graceful way they walk around. One giraffe started going pee and the kids thought that was funny. Then, another giraffe came over and started drinking the other giraffe's pee as it came out!! Eeew! I really almost felt sick to my stomach. I just had to share with you so you can share in my disgust! Needless to say, we decided to walk on after that. :)


We saw the sea lions, which were so pretty and graceful; swimming quickly through the water. One of the sea lions kept coming up and putting it's nose right to the glass of the underwater viewing area, right next to Ethan's face! It was so cool.
I couldn't get any pictures of it that were clear though, because it was going too fast and my camera isn't the best.

We saw the black bears and the rhino, and the elephants..

Two weeks ago when we went to the zoo, the polar bears were swimming around their pool, and I got this shot of one swimming by Ethan. He thought it was pretty much the coolest thing ever.

We didn't make it to the other side of the zoo where the lions and tigers and farm animals and penguins were, because it was time for the zoo to close, so we made our way back to the car. I have to say, the zoo is definitely one of our favorite family outings.  And its so nice that we get to enjoy it for free, since we don't  usually have money to spend on things like that. :)