Oh Baby!

It was a day of babies at the zoo yesterday. They were everywhere and so darn cute! My family including dh for once, little BIL/SIL, MIL and niece all met up yesterday afternoon for some family zoo time.  The boys had a blast with their uncle and Abuela. Bella was running all over enjoying her freedom as dh got some exercise trying to keep up with her and I got some photos of the animals- the only little ones who would sit still long enough! 

Here's Jaya again. She's too cute and I love the photos of her. I have to shoot down from a platform to take pics of the rhinos.

It's hard to see here but she has a baby on her too. She was sitting way up at the top of her platform.

A few other animals...

Oh and a couple of MY babies (Ian never stood still)

The Last Hurrah- A Day at the Zoo

Since Monday was our very last day of summer vacay we decided to head to the zoo. For a FL August morning it was beautiful out! Low humidity and not too hot. There was even a slight breeze. It didn't last too long though so by noon we were getting pretty darn hot and we busted out the Squeeze Breeze fans and bought some yummy Hawaiian Shaved Ice to cool us off. All three kids had a blast playing in the water play area too. Here are a few pics!

Can you spot the rhino?



Oh there she is! She blends right in. I think she's waiting for her baby who was not on exhibit today.



Meet the llama. Such soft, thick fur. They actually save it when they shave her down to make wool!



Peekaboo! This is not an exhibit snake- just a little Florida Black Racer who came out to greet us along the pathway.

I'm coming to get you wet Mama!

In the Wild

I decided to take the kids to the zoo this morning. OMG it was hot. Thankfully I had brought my Squeeze Breeze fan with me. I got some looks while using it but I think they were just jealous they didn't think of bringing one! ;) Bella sure appreciated it. Poor baby was sweating and so hot. The boys had little hand held light up fans I bought at Target this week for 90% off. I think they came to maybe 0.28 each. :)

We started our day trying to find some animals out and actually moving around. It was too hot even for them. We walked by an empty rhino exhibit at one point and I had totally forgotten there was a new baby just born to the Indian Rhino 3 weeks ago. So when we looped back around and saw they were out we stopped by again. I did notice some newspeople around filming so I wasn't sure we could get up there but all was okay. There was a guy standing next to us as we were oohing and aahhing over the new baby (sooooo freaking adorable!!) and it ended up that he was with the St Pete Times newspaper. He took some video of the boys and asked me their names and ages and told me to look at the website later today. As it turns out the video is up but we ended up on the cutting room floor. Oh well.
(This pic is actually over by the tigers)



Back to the baby. She is Adorable- with a capital A. She reminded me of a toddler just following after her mama- even in the way she walked. The handler you see in the video was giving them half of a cantaloupe (we were there to see it) and Mama gobbled it right up. When offered to the baby she pretty much turned her nose up at it and Mama nosed her out of the way to get to it. Mmm treat! The baby is still nursing, she knows what's best! By the way if you go to the LPZ website there's a contest to name the baby!


After the rhinos we went down another path and right in the middle of the boardwalk under the flume ride where the water sprinkles down was a beautiful black and yellow butterfly. It was drinking? the water off of the boards. I didn't have my SLR with me but I was able to get a decent photo.


From there we ended up in the Manatee/amphibian/reptile/aquatic exhibits. Ahhh air conditioning! Logan sat on the floor and Bella came over to sit in his lap. Aww. Awkward pic but cute nonetheless.


I had told the boys we'd play in the water area but by the time we got over there the storm clouds were starting to build. We did go see Bundaleer, our new koala bear. I didn't get a good photo though as he was turned away from us sleeping. Turns out they sleep 20 hours each day. I like my sleep but I don't think I could sleep that much! As we made our way over to Africa it started to sprinkle. It felt so nice so we kept going. Got just about to the elephants (near the end) and the thunder started. Most people in FL seem to ignore thunder but I know better and told the kids it was time to go. By the time we got closer to the entrance of the zoo it was raining harder and we ended up pretty darn wet by the time we made it to the car. I had handed one of our beach towels to the boys and when we got to the car, it was gone. Argh. So here I am trying to load 3 kids into carseats in the now pouring rain, load my soaked stroller in the back and trying to keep from getting soaked completely through myself. I did drive around the front of the zoo and my towel was hanging up on some railing. Just as I jumped out of the truck to get it an old man grabbed it to dry himself off! I guess he's the one who found it too and left it hanging. It's a *good* towel so I was happy to get it back.

What a day! I ended up stopping at Little Caesars on the way home for $5 Hot & Ready pizza and Crazy Bread (mmm). I must have looked like a total mess but we were all hungry and I had promised them pizza for lunch today. Hey $8.03 isn't bad for a pizza and 2 bags of CB! The kids were happy. I was happy when naptime came just a half hour later!

New Cast Day!

Logan had an appointment this morning to get his new short cast. I just kept him home from school on advice from his teacher. He would have only been there a short while and he wasn't missing anything. I realized as we were leaving that I had just barely enough gas and no time to stop. Of course. Robert told me to keep it under 60mph (not easy on the interstate!) and we made it there just fine thankfully. Logan was fine today. He went with the nurse easily to get x-rayed. The Dr came in and told him all they had left was hot pink casts and Logan wasn't having that! LOL

I forgot my camera today (I think I forgot my brain too) so all of these are from my phone.

Waiting to go get x-rayed again. Bella wasn't happy.


The sun was really bright! Here he's getting the old cast sawed off. He got to keep it.




Re-wrapping his arm in Gore Tex.


He picked a dark blue color for this cast. His arm is a bit bruised at the top now and the skin is peely but should be good in a week. He'll have this cast on for another 4 weeks.


After the Ortho visit we decided to head over to the zoo. What a gorgeous day! Everyone was starving so we stopped for lunch first at the Garden Grille just inside the zoo. Robert hated his veggie burger. I don't remember him complaining the last time he went so maybe they changed it. Everything else was okay. I wish I had remembered to bring my 20% off coupon though (one more thing I forgot)!

The Cloudy Leopard was actually out!


*Tamani* (the baby) was feeling rather mischevious today. She kept messing with (?) Mama. So cute though!!!


Here's my own baby. She liked sitting in the water.


She didn't like when someone ran past her and splashed her though.


Goofy boy


Happy to get all warmed up.


Brrrr. It wasn't cold at all outside but the water was really cool.


That was the end of our day. It was close to dinner time so we packed up and left after the water fun. Back to school tomorrow!

Monkeying around at the zoo

I had been trying to decide for a few days what I should do with the kids today. Dh was going to Daytona for the day for some car stereo show thingy so we would be on our own. After much thought and a last minute decision this morning I decided to surprise the kids with a trip to the zoo. It turned out to be a beautiful day for it. Eighty degrees and sunny with a light breeze. Our passes expired last year and I guess today was a good day to get new ones as we got 2 ride wristbands free today so the boys got to ride anything they wanted all day.

Our first ride was the carousel. While it wasn't Bella's first ride on a carousel (we've done Disney but I wore her) it was her first ride on an actual horse and she really wasn't sure about it. I don't think she felt safe even though my arms were around her. She whined the entire time but never cried. She looked so cute though on her white horse. Just like a little princess. :)


I felt for this poor mama. I know how she feels.


My boys love roller coasters!! I had no idea this was even there. It took the place of a car ride that they used to ride.


The meerkats are always so adorable. They were up close today and almost seemed to pose for the camera. Say *Insects*. (instead of cheese, get it? ;))


This picture just fits their personalities so well.


I bribed Logan into riding the camel with Ian. Ian really wanted to go. What did I bribe him with? Fruit Pearls. They were yummy!



They were itching to play in the water by this time. Bella fell asleep once we sat down so she didn't go in to play.


My wild boy


Sleeping beauty


They've changed this since I was there last too. Now it's a very shallow pool. Just a few inches deep.


Look who woke up!


Oh and for my local friends, there are new restaurants!
This one is at the Safari Lodge at the beginning of Africa near the meerkats.


This one is across from the zebras/giraffes. It's a sit down/table service restaurant.