We played hooky from kindergarten today and went to the Schönbrunn zoo with a friend. It was a beautiful day with the sun occasionally poking through the clouds and wonderful early spring temperatures. The kids were so excited to go out with a friend from school.
All around the zoo are enclosures that used to be used for the animals. They are quite small and it makes me sad to think of animals in them, but they are perfect for the children. They love to go in all the cages and pretend to be lions, tigers, and bears.
Today we saw so many very active animals! The lions were being fed and we sat and watched them for a long time. James, Marion, and Elora drew some wonderful pictures of lions, we got to see them fight, run, and hear them growl. We also saw the tigers running out and about on our way by. It was a wonderful start to our zoo day.
I love the big tortoises. I love a bunch of kids inside a tortoise shell even more. The kids played so well together and had a great time adding a little friend to our group.
The cheetahs were also out and about, much to Marion’s delight. She loves all cats, especially big ones. Elora drew some more beautiful pictures while the little kids ran around shrieking and playing.
I love elephants. So do all my kids. The elephants were outside making a ton of noise today, so we all ran over to see what they were doing. We enjoyed watching them walk around, play, and eat. Then we spent some time playing on all the fun elephant statues we found around the elephant enclosure.
We had the best surprise in the aquarium house. The crocodile was actually moving! I have never seen it move. It was in the water swimming around and all the kids were so excited. We also loved seeing lizards, fish, jellyfish, and even bats in this house. The kids stayed in here running about and making friends with the animals for a long time.
The zoo recently had some baby panda twins born. They are not so little anymore, but we were excited to catch a glimpse of one napping in a tree. This picture is of the kids in an example maternity den of a mama panda.
How many kids can you fit on one of these moving animals when you only have one 50 cent coin?
We were lucky to be near the sea lions just before feeding time. We have never seen feeding time before, we always just barely miss it. Oliver was SO excited. He was jumping up and down with excitement every time the sea lions jumped in the water for fish because the water would splash everywhere. He thought that was so funny to see the water splash on people. It was really fun to watch the sea lions swimming around and playing with the zoo workers.
After a fun filled day at the zoo, we enjoyed looking around in the zoo shop. Oliver loved the big “basilisk” snake in the middle of the store. Here he is pretending to be petrified. Marion says this tiger is her new friend and she really hopes she gets it for her next birthday. Luckily I was able to get everyone out of the shop without buying a giant basilisk or tiger. It was a beautiful, perfect zoo day. Yay for spring weather!
