denver zoo...lots of pictures

Oh, boy. I have had these pictures uploaded for 2 days, but no opportunities to add words. Pictures need commentary! Sigh. So, here I am, putting in the commentary so that I can publish this post already, like I promised I would.

My cute babes and some big, lazy cats!

Papa set E on his shoulder for a better view of the hyenas. Z tried to stand himself, despite being buckled in, to get a better look at the Zebras and Ostriches.

Not long after we walked up to his enclosure, the polar bear on the right stood up right next to the glass, it was quite exciting, even though we were not in front of the portion of glass he stood next to. After he got down, he began pacing the length of windows, I got this shot as he passed right in front of me.

Learning about polar bears.

After the polar bears, we stopped to eat. Mr. Boss decided to take C to the reptile house while the younger two finished their lunch. It felt like they were gone forever. It was a little frustrating, but also gave me an opportunity to admire (and photograph) the plant life near our lunching spot.

There was this little fish pond full of goldfish, E and Z enjoyed watching them swim around as we continued to wait for Mr. Boss and C to return. Then we found these flowers that matched E's shirt. She loved those flowers. "They're so beautiful!" she says.

After papa and C returned we all went into the reptile house together, so that Mr. Boss could show us all of the wonderful things he and C had seen. (And he got embarrassed when I got excited over seeing a hippo...?) Z loved it in there. He kept signing "snake" (He's doing it while sitting on the snake statue above.) He would point and babble at the creatures behind the glass, and hated when we made him walk away, until he saw the next creature.

I love how close these two are, and the way they so willingly hold hands with one another.

Checking out giraffes and penguins.

Monkey island was fun. It was really an island, covered in trees, and these monkeys just hung around and climbed trees. Pelicans swam in the waters that surrounded the island.

Boss train

Z was so excited when we finally got to the gorillas. The bottom two pictures are of him pounding his chest, signing "gorilla". He always does the Tarzan call when he signs gorilla. And, yes, I am very proud of that!

The autumn leaves were absolutely beautiful, and the day was perfect for walking around the zoo. I wish these pictures did justice to the breath-taking colors, the way the light captured the edges of the leaves making the trees look, almost, aflame, or the brilliant blue of the clear afternoon sky. (It might have helped if I'd had the color setting on my camera set to "vibrant" but I prefer the way my children look when photographed on the "neutral" setting, and I always forget to change it back.)

As we were on our way to the exit I spotted these two lions, napping on a distant rock. Even though we were tired and ready to leave, we had to stop for a moment to show the children, and listen to Z growl at the lions as they slept.

Our trip to the Denver zoo was marvelous. I was quite pleased that I didn't have to struggle to push our double stroller up hills and anchor it, so it didn't go sailing down others, as I would have to do at good old Hogle zoo. I also was very excited to see a hippo at the zoo. Even though they're stinky, the hippos were always one of my favorite exhibits, and I was crushed when Hogle zoo got rid of their hippo exhibit. (And I don't care one bit if I seemed embarrassingly, childishly excited when I spotted the hippo from afar. What fun is life if you can't get excited about things?)