Thursday afternoon, Tamlin, Jude, and I headed over to the Cleveland Zoo. I went ahead and picked up the family pass, because the zoo is huge and I knew that we would be back multiple times this year. We got there just as the kids on field trips were all leaving...so it was fairly empty :-)
The boys, of course, had to climb up on the baby elephant statue.
With our family pass, we get in free to the rain forest exhibit. The botanical garden here reminded me of the Como Conservatory back in Minnesota...a little like coming home. To get to the second floor, there was the option of stairs, elevator,... or climbing up a spiral staircase inside a tree! They even have an area where it RAINS inside, complete with thunder and lightning. There was even a huge ant colony of leaf cutter ants hard at work moving leaves through plastic tubing. This fascinated both boys for quite a while as they "raced" ants.
It's hard to see, but there is a gar swimming on the top of the water. Jude is looking underneath at the fish.
On the far photo, Tamlin is playing with a swimming turtle. It was following him back and forth across the tank.
We rode the tram up to see the big cats. Jude and Tam loved riding the tram...just look at this big smile. We walked back down the wooden boardwalk...complete with races of ramps versus stairs.
Back on the main drag, we went in and fed the parakeets. Both boys got a chance to hold the cup of nectar up to the thirsty birds.
Lots of giggles.
With it being much less crowded, I got to go in and see the uber cute little koala bears.
Awww...
And he was up there eating!
Awww...
We did catch a short show about birds...but the boys got squirrely after about 6 minutes, so we didn't watch the end. However, we did catch the zoo "Pirate" show in its entirety. The premise was a pirate shipwrecked...and a scientist and her research assistant lost on an island. (And it was a FEMALE scientist!). They then had a parade of animals on the stage and talked about how they survive the heat and find water. There were even trained rats running along the rigging of the ship...and a raven grabbing pirate coins (and a wallet) from their hands. All the actors were good at working with the animals...even when they ignored them and pooped on the poop deck. The highlight was when they asked for volunteers from our small (20ish people) audience. Of course Tamlin had to go up there on stage! Then they brought out the boa constrictor to drape across the volunteers...note how many little ones are up there trying to help hold up this heavy snake! Very fun.
We ended the day walking from "Australia" to "Africa" to see the giraffes. After 2.5 hours, the little boys were done...especially Jude and his little feet. (Must remember stroller or wagon next time). When I asked them what was their favorite part of the day...
Tamlin "Touching the snake, sliding down the big slide, riding the tram"
Jude "Riding the tram"
Now the last time we were here was 2 summers ago. Jude was Just a wee one in our arms barely 1 year old and Tamlin was only 3.5. I scrounged up these old photos from that visit to compare with this one. My how my babies have grown!
Here is Jude (3yrs) and Tamlin (3.5yrs) with their listening ears...
I love these two shots...
Summer, Brian, Jude, and Tamlin (and monkey) from 2012
And here is Me, Jude, and Tamlin from 2014. We still have great smiles :-)
Next time we visit, we'll try to drag along my sister and family (or grandparents!)
