The Maryland Zoo

Yesterday the girls and I enjoyed a beautiful spring afternoon at the zoo.   It was one of those days that I will remember forever - everyone was happy (shocking!!), there was no arguing, the weather was perfect! It was great.   It's very rare that just myself and the girls go and enjoy something like that without friends or family - it's something we will do a lot more of soon!  We were able to move at our own pace, and it was much less overwhelming.  Not that being with friends and family isn't spectacular,  but enjoying a relaxing day just the four of us out of our normal activities was so nice.  I also think we have finally reached that stage that baby/preschool days are far behind and it's SOOO much easier!

The first thing everyone wanted to see were the elephants! ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

The elephants gave us quite a show about .... should we say.... ahem.... their reproductive parts... but the teenager was horrified at the thought of me posting those pictures here...   :)   It was quite the dinner time conversation last night.   The littlest commented about the elephant having "two trunks"!!!

This was an interesting new creature we hadn't see before... an Okapi from the Congolian forest.



The trees were so beautiful!



Boo in the Bamboo!


Kirsten's favorite childhood friend - a Lemur! Anyone remember Zaboomafoo?  Leapin' lemurs!! :)

Always a zoo favorite - jumping on the lilly pads.

And nesting like a bird...

Notice how one of my little birdies is perched on the edge of the nest and ready to spread her little wings and fly?  

River otters

touching an otter pelt

It's not everyday you get to climb on a (fake) stalagmyte!

Can you spot Emily??

The tree trunk slide - I have a picture of Kirsten on this when she was younger than both of these girls!

Hannah's dream come true - she's a turtle!

Pretending to be prarie dogs..





A perfect ending to a perfect day...