Hogle Zoo

Last year for Christmas, my parents got our family a zoo membership, and it has been so much fun! I'm pretty sure Rich and I get more excited about the animals than Norah does. We've been able to go a lot since we had a really mild winter and spring earlier this year. We also really enjoy the zoo nights, where the park is open until sunset for members only. One time in July, we brought our big camera to a zoo night and caught some fun shots of the animals.

 We finally broke down and bought ourselves some rides on the train at the zoo. Luckily Norah did not care how crazy loud the brakes were or that you really don't see any animals. It's a train, and that's really all that matters to a 3-year-old.

I never want to forget her excited face.

It's just crazy to me that my tiny little girl is standing so close to a lioness and is perfectly safe.

We happened to catch this baby elephant trying to get some dinner from a tree.

 The seals and sea lions are a family favorite.

This was actually on a different day and Rich took it on his phone so it's a little grainy, but it's maybe my favorite zoo picture ever.

We also really like crocodiles in this house, too. For some reason, Norah doesn't call them horsey rides - they're crocodile rides.

 On the night we had our camera, this tiger must have recently been moved close to another tiger in an adjacent enclosure. This guy was pacing all over his and kept looking over at the other guy. He was passing right in front of us, so we got a good view of him.

We're pretty much past zoo season now (although we've heard good things about Zoo Lights), but we sure enjoyed our membership this year!