Zoo Day!

We received a family zoo membership as a gift from my parents after not having one for about 1.5 years, but hadn't had a chance to use it for the month that we'd had it. After noting that it was going to be a beautiful day on Friday, and with Ryan's Friday music classes not starting for another 2 weeks, I decided to keep Jake out of school and take both of them for a long morning at the zoo. I'm so glad we did -- we had a fantastic time. 

Because the zoo is so large, we have to pick and choose which sections we want to go through. Today it was the Pacific Northwest section. The mountain goats and black bears were awake and eating. 

In the replica of an eagle's nest.

 Oregon toad. He came right up against the window while we were there and was staring at us staring at him.

 Inside the elephant museum.

Watching the elephants.

 We got right on the train (no waiting in line) about 5 minutes before the train left the station. It was a nice, long ride around Washington Park and the zoo. We loved it and the weather was perfect for it.

 Train.

 Fish.

 The sea lion was in rare form today -- sunning himself on the rock and making quite a show.

 The obligatory picture with the mountain goat statue :)

One of the best parts of this zoo trip is that Jake is now old enough to be interested in the information about the animals: reading the signs, asking questions, and having dialoges about zoo life. It was a neat parenting moment :)