Sedgwick County Zoo

Last Saturday, as we sat amid a pile of boxes waiting to be unpacked, beds needing to be put together and a house in need of a general scouring we decided to heck with it! and went to the zoo instead.  That's how we roll.  It turned out to be a great idea.  And lucky for us, we got a year's pass.

I thought it appropriate to take a picture of these two monkeys with a monkey......

Checking out the wingspan.......  by the way, I love how this zoo was laid out.  Everything was spread out and had plenty of viewing areas and was divided by the geographical regions where they lived.  So first we hit South America with the jaguars, anteaters, llamas and tons of birds.  Then we hit Australia with the wallaby, (the kangaroos were "off exhibit" for the winter).

Drew was loving it all, but especially South America.  He held the map the entire time and pretended to be Diego.  He loved seeing "Linda the Llama" and "Baby Jaguar".

Then off to Africa to see the elephants, rhinos, zebras, hippos, etc.  By the way....remember the nasty hippo exhibit they used to have at Hogle?  I've always heard everyone say how gross it was and that's how I remembered it too.  Well, I learned it wasn't the zoo's fault.  There was a sign posted here by the hippo pool that talked about how they flush the hippo pool twice a day and refill it with clean water, (with something like 50 thousand gallons) but that the hippos do their business there.  So sometimes it's clean for hours, and other times.....not.

The lion exhibit was THE COOLEST.  EVER.  To be honest I've never even seen the lion at the Hogle zoo because he's always hiding in the shade or there's too many people.  This lion was right out on his little pride rock and there were PLENTY of places to see him from all around.  And of course the warthog and meerkat exhibits were nearby and it left room for lots of Lion King jokes.

Then there was this fake zebra carcass....we told Parker it would be funny if he pretended to eat it.  He was kind of weird about it....as you can see. ;)

Here's Drew with his map.

And a zoom in on the cutie.

 We had a great time; we also saw gorillas and chimpanzees and orangutans, (which Claire wanted nothing to do with) but due to nap time we didn't have a chance to see everything.  So lucky for us....being so close and having that pass we can go back again anytime.I'm thinking this will be perfect for homeschool.  We could study a region or a specific animal, and then reward ourselves with a little playtime at the zoo.  We still have Asia and North America to go; also the reptiles and the penguins.  More fun to come!!