The Grams Family

On Tuesday, May 31st, we visited the zoo as a family. This was little Addy’s first trip to the zoo, and Eli’s most exciting trip yet. We had gone to Riverbanks Zoo with Eli the past two years as well. We got there around 9:30 in the morning and did not leave until three. This time, Eli helped Daddy by the tickets. Eli’s ticket had a rhino on it. Addy’s had a tiger, Daddy’s had penguins, and Mommy’s had a flower. We started out seeing the otters while the bear was still hiding. Next we saw the lions. As Eli pointed out, there were two mommy lions and one daddy lion.

They were lying in the shade on the hot day. Eli also loved the baboons and the tiger. We were fortunate enough to see a baby flamingo chick being fed by its mother. The baby was white and captured the whole family’s interest.

The sea lion and seal training show was another highlight. The trainers fed and played with the sea lions and seals, feeding them fish treats to encourage them. The announcer provided various sea lion and seal facts.

Eli and I got our annual pictures with the Koalas right by the Komodo dragon but the Koalas were all inside this year. Unfortunately the aquarium was closed but there were still plenty of fun things to do. We went on the Kangaroo walkabout where the kangaroos and the wallabies are right in the area with you. They were shy and only a wallaby was anywhere near us, but they were fun to see nonetheless. Next, after going through the tunnel with lots of smaller animals, we saw the gorillas. They were sleepy and hot. They were taking a nap in the shade right by the building, so we got a very good look at them.

Eli was asking about seeing the giraffes almost the whole time we were there, and he got to see them next. We even got to feed them some lettuce. Eli was a little scared of their long tongue, but he eventually fed the giraffes a piece of lettuce. He was very excited about this.

Along with the giraffes we saw some ostriches, zebras, and rhinos. Eli learned that the Rhinos eat grass and hay.

Next was the highlight of the trip. A brief train ride followed by the petting zoo. Eli loved petting and brushing the goats. He also got to sit in a tractor and spotted some ducks under the tractor, but he made sure to pet and brush every single goat.

We took a brief stop to see the penguins and other birds inside.

After seeing all the animals, we had our packed lunch. Then, we went back in the zoo and walked up to the botanical gardens.

After a quick look at the beautiful plants, we saw the splash park. Eli is a little afraid of the splash park, but he did have some fun with some of the less intense water activities. We bought some water to drink to cool us down as well. The water felt very nice on our feet.

There were other fun activities such as a little house for kids and a huge tree house to walk through.

When we were done, we took the cart down the hill and made our way to the souvenir shop. On the way there, we saw the lions had moved a little and the bear had come out. We stopped to check in on him. At the souvenir shop, Eli picked out a little toy kangaroo with a joey in its pouch, and that was our day at the zoo!