The Zoo

My friend Elena has a pass to bring friends to the zoo for free, so when she invited us to join her and her daughter, Evelyne, we happily accepted.  Elena and her husband are from Italy and we met them because Elena's husband was in Ben's study group the first semester of last year.  They are a fun family and we've really enjoyed spending time with them.  Of course, we this day was no exception.  We had a great afternoon at the Hogle Zoo!

Elfewents!

One of the two injured Bald Eagles at the zoo.

The kids were dying to go to the brand new "Rocky Shores" section.  One of the first exhibits we saw was home to seals and sea lions.

But the polar bear was the biggest attraction, by far.

She would swim from the rocks (behind her in this picture) straight to the viewing glass and pop out of the water, then go back to the rocks and repeat the procedure.  She did this for 10 or so minutes while we watched.  It was really cool to see her so close, but the first time she popped up in front of Jack it startled him quite a bit, and he wanted to hang out with me for a few minutes before going back to the glass to see the bear again.

Evelyne is saying his to the polar bear.

She's about to pop up in front of Eliza.

Like I said.  It was just really cool.

Thanks for hanging out with us, PB.

Smart tiger. Spending the afternoon napping in the shade.

Looks like the lynx couple had the same idea.

Prairie dogs!

SO cute.

We saw a show that featured live animals, and the kids were able to pet a few of them afterwards.

Eliza's turn.

Thanks for a great afternoon, Elena and Evelyne!