Going to the Zoo...

We've been talking about going to the zoo for several weeks now (if not months) as it was recommended by Marion's brother Marvin to go during the 'off' season!  With that in mind, Marion put it on his list to get to the zoo this winter sometime!  However, finding a day when it is nice enough to go but yet not have a long list of things to get done is rather hard at times.  Nevertheless, we managed to get a good day in this last Saturday before the frigid sub-zero weather hit!  So here are the pics and a few fun stories from our Zoo trip:

Our arriving picture...first stop...the LIONS!

 PS...we went to the Zoo/Museum in Salina...Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure...it was very nice!

Mr. Lion taking it easy.
As we were leaving the lions decided to put on a show and were really roaring...scared the kids to death!  lol

First spotted Kangaroo!

Marion thought for SURE kangaroos were bigger then this....hehehe!

GIRAFFES!  Wow...are they tall!

checking out the rhinos from a distance

back to the giraffes as they came closer

oh...here's a bigger kangaroo..still small in Marion's mind!

the kids with an elephant...lol...or a statue of one....
we thought about having Ethan ride on it...but changed our minds...lol

Here is Mr. E...enjoying the sun and the ride!
(notice his shirt...it has a lion, giraffe and bear I think! Perfect zoo attire.)

NOW THIS is a RHINO...OMGoodness...we could NOT believe how HUGE these guys were!

The picture just does not do it justice....they are HUGE!

monkey thing....oh shoot...what was it called....a Lemur????

Happy Boy...he really LOVED the zoo!

The kids said this was their favorite animal....who woulda thunk!

I tried to catch a picture of his tongue...it was MASSIVE...have you ever seen their tongues?

Mr. Orangutan peering out from beneath his blanky.

Chimpanzee...I kept it nice...no female pictures!

I can't remember what this guy was called...a Mandrill or something...VERY colorful!

Okay...now these next pictures have a story behind them so I have got to take a break and share!  As we were walking around we got to the CAT section...we saw the snow leopard and started walking over to see what was next...the kids ran ahead of us and into the observation area...as soon as this COUGAR/mountain lion/whatever you want to call it saw the kids...BOUNDED for the glass...stopping just short of smacking itself right into it!  Then it began pacing the the observation area staring directly at the kids...especially ETHAN!  At one point...the picture of him really close up...he was chewing on the wood trying to get through!  And notice...the only thing between us was a metal frame and what appeared to be 2x4 planks...there were even holes between the planks and frame that Jonny could have gotten a finger through!  SCARY!  Anyway...at one point...Jonny lost interest and decided to chase leaves blowing in the wind and as he went running after a leaf...this COUGAR made a MAD dash after him!  Seriously...the only thing that stopped this cat was the fence which I think he would have tried to climb!  His 'prey' running was just too much to resist!

After that...we high tailed it out of there!

pacing

My camera is directly above Ethan's head...I wish I would have thought of putting it right behind E so you could see...How scary is that!

VERY interested in Jonny!

A side shot of how BIG he was!

In the corner of the cage...watching Jonny...whom at this time we had STOPPED from running...
Ummm...that is quite a TRUE sign!

Here are the tigers...they weren't nearly as interested in the kids.

Can you see this next one...look hard?!

Even without the trees...its hard to see him...right in the corner..only 50 of these leopards left in the wild.

flamingos...the kids loved these!  "mom...where is his other leg?"

But I think they were getting cold...they were bunkered down and shivering!

For some reason...Abi really wanted to see the wolves...she said 'that would be SO scary to be in a covered wagon next to them' referring to the Little House on the Prairie books Daddy has read her!

 After the zoo, we went into the museum for a little bit...my cell phone battery was dying so I only got a few shots:

they had real animal sounds to go with many of the displays...very nice

I thought this was kinda cool how it was all black and then lit...just artsy...lol

This was MY favorite display...very close...very real...and fun!

Overall, we had a great trip...the kids were exhausted and got lots of good fresh air and exercise.  Though we won't easily forget the cougar experience and I will probably be more diligent at keeping them closer to home, we had alot of fun.