For my animal lovers

The boys have always loved animals.  In fact, they even have a barn with lots of animals to play with at home.  Ellis was a huge fan of horses for the longest time and if you ask him what sound an elephant makes, you might want to brace yourself (and plug your ears).  So, although we've taken our share of trips to the Detroit Zoo this summer, we had to hit up the Toledo Zoo - closest home of (live) elephants that I know of!

Saturday, the four of us and Grandma Bush packed some things up and headed to the Toledo Zoo.  Once we got there, it was no surprise when the boys quickly spotted some stuffed animals.  They've never really been in to stuffed animals, but have picked them up more often after being at the Reaves and seeing the big selection they have.  So Grandma treated them each to an animal of their choice!

We saw the giraffes and horses, although I seem to favor the exhibits at the Detroit Zoo as far as getting good shots of them.

Can't forget the wolves too - or should I say "white dogs".

Next we headed to the other side of the zoo and our first stop was the flamingoes.

Our first site of an elephant was this statue, but hey, they don't pass up a good statue to climb on.

Next the penguins.  They were awesome too, especially watching them dive in and swim - but boy did they stink!

Then off to the monkeys.  I probably could have stood here for half the day.  They were so entertaining and one even got right in front of Ellis and Rosie and swung back in forth in front of them.  It was awesome.  

Then some other primates.

Then we found these cute little masks hanging that the kids could stand behind.  They loved it!

Then the ungodly hot reptile house...

..and finally the elephants (cue in Ellis' best elephant sound)

A stop at the hippos (and the hippo statues).  I was totally bummed, but right when we went to turn around to leave the exhibit, one hippo stuck his head out of the water and opened his mouth real big.  It was awesome, but I wasn't fast enough to get the picture.  Damn!

Last but not least, some BIG CATS!

And another family photo at a statue (that I saw said "DO NOT CLIMB ON", after we took the picture - oops)

Then it was time to head home.  Logan had been getting a bit cranky for probably the last 30 minutes, so we thought we'd head out before all hell broke loose.  All in all, we all had a great time.  Logan fell asleep within 5 minutes of leaving and Ellis fell asleep after a quick snack, sleeping the whole way home with their new animals never leaving their little grip.

I'm so glad we were able to check that fun off the bucket list this summer.  As for us, we are spending my last week off for summer with a mix of fun and relaxation.  Today, despite the rain, we've kept busy inside and have had an awesome day.