Birthday Trip to the Zoo

We started Dane's birthday celebration with a trip to the St. Louis Zoo. Aunt Katie and Papa came long to help us celebrate. Mama was working at the zoo with Childrens Hospital Thursday so we made several stops by her area to visit as well.

It was supposed to be pretty hot on Thursday, so we were at the zoo by 7:45 a.m. A big bonus was that the carousel, stingrays, and the Childrens Zoo are all free before 9:00. We decided to head to the carousel first. Mama's Children's Hospital tent was right next to the carousel so we were able to see her right away.

As we walked toward the carousel we saw a couple of bears out early and then decided to go into the Penguin House. There were only 2 other people in there this early. Dane loved the penguins.

Papa held him up so he could get a good look.

He would point as they swam by.
He watched them for quite a while.

Every so often they would splash water out and he would crack up.

Daddy held him up high to look at some more penguins.

We went to the carousel and were able to jump right on.

Getting so big that Daddy doesn't need to hold on to him anymore.

Even at 8:00 in the morning it was getting too hot for this bear.

Dane kept saying, "Bear, water."

Our next stop was the Stingrays and the Sharks!

Just waiting for one to come by.

Perfect timing! We got to the Childrens' Zoo about 8:45 and could spend the rest of our time there. We saw the goats first.

Hugging onto the goats just like he does with Max.

Coming down the giant slide

Dane eagerly climbed into the hippo's mouth.

He didn't want to hang out long enough for a picture though.

And the next stop was the sprinklers. It was hot and it was his birthday, so we just took off his shoes and let him go play.

He ran all over and got soaking wet, but he had a ball.

We had to start walking around a bit to get dried off.

Petting the Guinea Pigs

At this point it was getting pretty hot. We had about a half hour before we met Mama for lunch. Mama and Papa are Grandparent Zoo Members so they have special passes. We decided to redeem passes for the train. Dane has recently discovered trains (thanks to his cousin, Trey) and absolutely LOVES them so he was thrilled to ride the train. He hung with Daddy for the beginning of the ride.

He then jumped back and sat with Papa for the rest of the ride.

He was getting hot and tired and was ready for his birthday lunch at the zoo...thanks to Mama and Papa's Grandparent Pass.

We met Mama and had lunch. After lunch we headed to the car. Dane was sound asleep before we even got on the highway.

I am hoping we can head to the zoo at least once more this year. Dane loved it and perhaps there will be more animals out when it is not quite so hot!