My mom celebrated her 60th birthday on Sunday and her big present was a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo to see Fiona the hippo. My dad asked if we wanted to come too, so we kind of planned it as a surprise for her when we showed up at the hotel Sunday afternoon.
Evelyn posing with the manatees.
The drive to the hotel was just under 3 hours and we didn't want to arrive before my parents, so we stopped at an arboretum in Dayton.
The grounds were very nice. We took a short hike through a meadow and saw lots of butterflies. We also climbed up this really neat tower.
Monday it was finally time to go to the zoo and see Fiona. First the elephants.
Then the giraffes. The giraffes were really cool because they are Masai giraffes and at our zoo we have reticulated giraffes.
Evelyn measuring up to a giraffe. Then we sat through a really cool animal show where at the end you got to watch just how fast two real cheetahs can run.
Finally time to see Fiona. For a while she was just hanging out at the bottom of the pool up against her mom and all you could see was her bottom. But then she surfaced and we caught a glimpse of her face. Neat fact - all the water in the hippos' pool is recycled rain water!
Evelyn posing with the manatees.
Jameson wrestling an alligator.
We all were able to pet the tortoises.
This sweet penguin was so close I couldn't help but take his picture.
The zoo was really nice and a lot of fun. It was a long day; we spent about 6 hours there. We had the wagon so Evelyn and Jameson could ride and overall they did great. We had our moments of whining, grumpiness, and poor listening, but they held it together and as a result we saw just about every animal the zoo had to offer.
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