For some reason we just didn’t make it to the zoo much this summer. We love to go, and I wanted to see the new carousel that opened up. It received a lot of attention for the animals which are all different and have a tremendous attention to detail. Coraline and Jameson both enjoyed it! They chose tigers.

There’s also a new children’s area just outside the carousel. There’s a small wading creek for beavers, and a tunnel made of sticks the kids enjoyed going through. First though, a snack.

I do have a number of photos of animals at the zoo, so I try now to only take exceptional ones or when they animals are close. We decided to feed the giraffes again, which is always fun. I just love to see them close up!

We opted not to go to the very top of the zoo to see the indoor areas and stuck with the main part of the zoo.

This area isn’t one we usually stop at, but Jameson wanted to see what was inside all the little holes. It was for watching birds, and I got a kick out of Jameson trying to use the binoculars. He liked looking through the cards of birds and tried to identify them.

We saw the wolf exhibit, camels, and reindeer next. The kids like to climb of statues, of course, so that is a given.

A packed lunch is always perfect for the zoo when we have a stroller to carry the lunch bag. And then we were off again to see the last exhibits, including bears. Sadly, the polar bear passed away a while ago, so there are brown bears in that exhibit now. It’s just not the same!

I got such a kick out of this sloth bear looking like he was just hanging out, bored in class.

Our last stop was the elephants, which is right by the entrance. We were all pretty exhausted by then, but Coraline did such a great job delaying her nap. Everyone had a great time at the zoo.