Night at the Zoo

Yesterday just as we were getting ready to start dinner, I was on Facebook and saw a post that it was Member Appreciation Night at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden.  The zoo normally closes at 5:00, but it would be open from 6:00 until 9:00 for members only.  So Pat and I quickly got dinner on the table, cleaned up and got the kids in the car with no idea where we were headed.  Max and Leah guessed all the normal places but never mentioned the zoo, which was surprising.  They were so excited when we got there.

This turtle greeted us at the entrance...he is 34 years old!

It was a perfect night to go.  It was cloudy and not too 'hot' and not too 'humid.'  We easily found a place to park and it was surprisingly not busy.  We were there for about 2.5 hours.  Pat and I even had a beer!

We saw all of our favorite animals, but of course the giraffes were the hit of the night.  Kimba, the male, was out in the yard.  But all the females, including Tessa and her two babies Lulu and Nasha (the newest one) were inside.  We were able to see them through a window.  All of a sudden, one of the giraffes was right up against the glass...the highlight of the evening.

Noah's favorite part of the night were the goats.  I think one day he might own a farm of goats...he loves them!

We ate popcorn and were even able to ride the train and carousel without a wait!

We saw the baby gorilla, Gladys, attached to her "mom's" back but we were not able to get a good picture of here.  The polar bears were pretty active and put on a good show.

One of my favorite activities of the night was the canvas painting.  A local art studio had canvases set up for kids to add their own strokes to.  Max added some yellow, Leah added a pink butterfly and Noah added some red.

The girl behind Noah looks like Leah, but it is not!

We had a great time!