Where the Wild Things Are

One of the best Christmas gifts we received this year was a membership to the Oregon Zoo, from Nathan's Aunt Ellen. Since we activated the membership in early February (had to get through the move first), we have been to the Oregon Zoo three times and as summer approaches, we look forward to spending more time there. We have already used our membership to get free or discounted admission to Zoo Boise and Woodland Park Zoo, as well. I hope to visit Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium sometime soon, too, since I haven't been there since I was very little.

Nathan seems to enjoy looking at the animals, although a few have made him nervous. I think he's confused a bit since Jeff and I try to teach him the noises that animals make and yet, when at the zoo, very few of them actually make any noise.

The first visit to the OR Zoo was a sunny Sunday in February. It was nice to be outside, but we all became cold quickly and kept our visit short. The next visit, I was stuck in training on a sunny Saturday, so Jeff and Aunt Jennifer escorted Nathan. We've learned quickly that it's best to arrive early at the zoo, as the small parking lot fills up quickly. Thanks to our membership, however, we get to skip the long lines that form.

OR Zoo: One cheetah was resting directly in front of the window and the other was pacing back and forth. Nathan was all giggles as he followed the second one around.

We decided to spend Easter weekend in Boise and convinced the whole family to join us at Zoo Boise on Monday morning. Jeff and I had been to this zoo once before, but it was eight or nine years ago. One of the most entertaining features of the zoo were the Canadian Geese who were nesting all over the park. Every corner led us to a hostile male goose while a female would be patiently sitting nearby.

Nathan was not going to pet the beautiful long hair rabbits on display at Zoo Boise.

Zoo Boise

Riding the Giraffe slide with Aunt Jennifer at Zoo Boise

Beautiful Snow Leopard at Zoo Boise

On another trip to the Oregon Zoo, we saw four bears hanging out; I don't think I've ever seen any in this enclosure before, so four of them was really a treat! We also saw the new flamingo exhibit. And I finally got to see the baby elephant, but was so entranced, I forgot to take pictures. A few years ago, a huge bond was passed in Multnomah County and the zoo is in the process of building a new elephant enclosure. I've heard it will be pretty spectacular.

OR Zoo

Nathan wasn't too impressed by the new flamingo exhibit. They do just stand around, I guess.

Blends right in, doesn't he?

OR Zoo Giraffe

OR Zoo

The OR Petting Zoo. Again Nathan was none too interested in touching the animals.

Most recently, we spent a weekend in Maple Valley visiting Grandpa. We woke early and all of us went to the Woodland Park Zoo. This zoo is the one I remember taking multiple school field trips to and was excited to visit, since it had been awhile. It's one third larger than OR Zoo so we had our hands full trying to convince Nathan to walk as much as possible (we forgot the stroller). We were able to see some really neat creatures, some of which are not even at the OR Zoo. Highlights included the elephants who came marching right over toward us, the siamang monkeys who howled through the trees and the big brown bears who were playing in the stream.