We Went to the Zoo!

I love the Sedgwick County Zoo! We've been to two other zoos (Tulsa and NC), and they just don't compare. On our last day in Wichita, we visited the zoo.

The kids loved it! The weather cooperated, and we had such a great time!

We started off in the petting zoo area. Anyone who's been to this zoo knows those goats and sheep can get a little crazy trying to snatch the food from your hands. So, it was quite surprising that they didn't really attack us at all! Nope. They lazily meandered over and ate some from our hands quite peacefully. Hmmm... perhaps all the visitors have just finally worn them out? Maybe they were sleepy? Who knows! We stopped in to the American Farm and Olivia took her turn "milking" the cow (it's pretend so no animals were harmed). As you can see, she's quite good!

We continued our walk around visiting the Reptiles and Amphibians and of course The Jungle. The kids loved the jungle! The animals were very active that day running about under our feet. The kids even got close enough to pet one of the crazy birds! The fruit bats were doing more than sleeping too. Then we saw the penguins who were happily swimming about their enclosure. This one really liked Isaac!

We ate a little lunch at the cafe and then noticed that the giraffe feeding area was open. In all the times we've been to the zoo, we've never been able to catch it open, so we were quite stoked! It was AMAZING! I should have been a zoologist because I could not get enough. We met and fed a 15 mo. old baby giraffe named Olivia (yes, it made my Olivia giggle with delight!). Then the big boy Emmett came over and snacked from us. In fact, when Olivia (the human) fed him, he put her arm (up to her elbow!) into his mouth! She grimaced all the while giggling when she pulled out her slime filled arm. Here is Emmett trying to lick Isaac!

The rest of the tour was awesome as well, although the animals were getting sleepy by then (so were the kids). Here the kids are with my mom at the end of our zoo day.

We left for NC the next morning at 5:am. It was an awesome trip visiting family and showing the kids around our hometown. Hopefully someday everyone will come visit us!