Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

This summer, we decided that going on a big family vacation would not be a good idea. Plane flights are expensive for a family of nine, and a 16-hour car ride with five one-year-olds sounded almost as pleasant as having a root canal. Because we were stuck at home all summer, we tried to come up with a few fun things that we could do with the kids, while still maintaining our sanity. A little before school started, we decided to take everyone to the zoo.


Anyone who lives in Austin knows that it has a really lame excuse for a zoo. There are hardly any really exciting animals and it is kind of pricey for what you get to see. However, Waco, which is about 1.5 hours north of Austin, has a really great zoo. The Cameron Park Zoo is not to big, but not too little. It has most of the zoo animal favorites (lions, tigers, bears, giraffes, rhinos, monkeys, etc.) It also has several trees and shaded walkways, which make a big difference in the Texas heat.


My friend, Halli and her three kids came with us. We also took Calvin, my friend Natalie's son, who has come over several times this summer to help with the babies. In addition we had my sister, Tiare, who was still living with us at the time, so we ended up with 14 people total for our Zoo excursion.


Despite the over 100 degree temperature and very high humidity, everyone had a BLAST! I was amazed that I didn't hear a single complaint from anyone---not even Riley and Kaiya. I think the babies were just happy to get out of the house. I am not sure how much they paid attention to the animals, but they were happy to ride around in the stroller and check out everything around them.

After the 1 1/2 hour car ride, the kids were anxious to get inside! Big Kids: Kaiya, Riley, Calvin, Lauren, Taylor, Carter, Babies: Ryder, Rustin, Kassidy, Kaydence, Kyndall

Elephants!

Giraffes!

Kaiya is testing out the awesome see-through tube slide that went through the otter tank.

Riley

Calvin with the Rhinos.

Bears!

Riley and Kaiya check out the Lions.

Each of the babies had their picture taken by an animal that seemed fitting for them:

Kassidy (with Tiare) gets her photo op with a snake, because she slithered like a snake when she was first learning to crawl.

Kaydence is pictured with the bear because she is my most cuddly baby. (She actually reminds me of a Koala bear--she clings to me the way Koala bears cling to their mom or to a tree, but this bear was the the best we could do)

Rustin had his picture taken with the monkeys, because he sounds like a monkey when he talks "ooh ooh ooh".

This animal (see the one up to the left of my head) reminded us of Kyndall because it was so small and petite, that you could hardly believe that it could walk around.

I always thought Ryder looked a little bit like a turtle (in a cute way) when he was an infant.

Carter, Lauren, Taylor, Kaiya, Riley and Calvin all take a take a break.

All in all, it was a great day! Maybe next summer I will be ready to tackle a family road trip!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!