Akron Zoo

So we found a zoo to replace our Lafayette zoo that we loved so much.

The one in Lafayette was a tiny little zoo that was free to the community, with small/few animals. BUT it was free, it was next to the playground, and there were water fountains you could play in, so we loved it.

While this Akron zoo is by no means free, it is WAY cooler than the other. You really can't compare the two.  It is still not a large zoo, no elephants or giraffes or (surprisingly) any monkeys. But they have lions and tigers and bears (no, I won't say "oh my") and bats, and jelly fish, penguins, and and tons of other animals. The price of a family pass for a year is a good deal if you go a lot. I have been trying to go at least once a week, but sometimes it turns out every other week. We have definately got our money's worth already, and we have only had the pass for about 2 months.

There are spots throughout the zoo that are prime for picture taking. Ashlyn insists we take pictures there every time we go. EVERY TIME. So I have tons of these pictures:

The butterfly bench in the gardens

Peach the Penguin

The Carousel Lion. 

Ashlyn the prairie dog

Ashlyn the Grizzly Bear

Playing with the bear cubs

Now for the random pictures:

Komodo Dragon. These things are large. After watching the BBC documentary "Life" (or is it "planet earth"?)...I am a little scared of these things.

Jellies

"They are my favorite color mom! How come there are no purple ones though?"

The carousel. She refuses to go on this.

I think this was called "frontier town" or something like that. Two little cabins for the kiddos to play in.  They have tables, chairs, brooms and other home type things. She loves it. She is such a girlie girl.

The aquarium section next to the touch tank. She doesn't care about touching the animals, she just wants to play on these toys. The day this was taken, we had it all to ourselves.

Baby Lexi does pretty good riding in the stroller, as long as we keep moving.

Baby and me waiting for Ashlyn to finish playing in the playhouse. (it was a little windy)

Baby and Daddy.

Stopping to eat our zoo snacks. We get special "on-the-go" type snacks that are only for outings such as the zoo or the park. She calls them "zoo snacks".

The gift shop is probably her favorite exhibit.

Actually, her favorite exhibit is the bat cave. She was a little scared of it at first, because you walk in and it is dark. It takes time for your eyes to adjust before you can see anything. And then when your eyes adjust and you can see things, you see bats fluttering around (behind the plexi-glass, but still). It's a little eerie at first, but now she (we) love it. It's her favorite, and the one she wants to see first every time.