Lions and Tigers and Monkeys, OH MY!

On Monday, we all went to the Wichita zoo--except Aaron...he had to work :( The kids loved it. It was pretty warm, but not terrible. We were there for a few hours and I think we saw all the exhibits. The new tigers and penguins are great! And THANK YOU to Cassie's cousin who got us passes!!!

Bryce LOVED the "Cool Zone" misting fans!

Jacob & Papa watching the gorillas. None of the animals were very active that day. One of the gorillas did run across the windows and pound on them once.

I was trying to get a picture of the gorilla laying there playing with his toes, but I think this one turned out pretty cool! Hudson checking out the gorilla.

A graceful swan along the way.

Bryce was so funny! He wasn't the least bit afraid of the animals in the petting zoo!!

Anna preferred the stroller. Such a rough life!!

Jamie and Hudson checking out the horses.

Jacob...he was scared of the small animals (of course!) but enthralled with the huge ones! Here he's checking out the Water Buffaloes.

"ooohhhhhh"

When he saw the peacock, Bryce said "Hey chicken!" over and over. He is just so cute!!!

The peacock's call scared Jacob half to death! He did NOT like that one bit!

Their color is just phenomenal!

We had lots of fun seeing all the animals. Anna's favorite was the baby zebra! :)

Fun Day!

Today, Kim and her kids came with us to the zoo! And then we went to Scott's ranch to ride horses!! The big kids were super excited.

So, here are a bunch of pictures from our exciting day:)

These lemurs were hilarious! At first they were just laying around but when they noticed us standing there, they sat up like this...like they were "performing" for us. The kids thought it was pretty funny.

Jacob was allowed out of the stroller INSIDE the aquarium building:) He loved seeing all the fish!

We also met my cousin's wife Amy and her little boy Daniel at the zoo. He was very enthusiastic (contrary to this picture!) :)

This is a piranha...I'd never actually seen one before. If you look really closely, you can see its teeth! One of them in the tank was missing part of it's top b/c the others had started eating on it! The worker said that if they don't get fed, they just start eating each other. They get fed little mice and the piranhas eat them whole!

The Annas :)

The tigers! They have a white tiger, too. Those are some magnificent animals! Jacob did NOT like them, but all the others did.

Anna Mae, ready to explore!

I am just in awe of God's creations!

The white tiger looked really old. A lot older than I remember from last time we were there a couple years ago.

Everything is "dada" for Daniel! He is very enthusiastic about things, though! He'll point, jump, and forcefully say "DADA!" It's so funny.

Anna watching the spider monkeys.

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Now the horses!! It was so much fun and Anna and Jake were SO EXCITED about it. We had our sack lunch and the kids about knocked the door out when I asked if they were ready to go ride! :) Kim and I had our hands full...Anna Mae does NOT like dogs, so she wanted to be held. And Jacob would just take off, which wasn't good b/c there were several horses in the pen when the big kids were riding! And Daniel was the same way! So we alternated between holding kids and taking pictures:)

Once we got out of the riding pen, we didn't have to keep them so close. And Jacob went right up to this horse and tried to pet him! Not the least bit afraid.

Just a little closer horsey!

Mr. Horse Rider himself! I put him up there and right away he grabbed the saddle horn and raised up one hand, as if to say "Come on Daddy! Let's get goin'!!" It was so funny.

SO CUTE! :)

Anna Mae, on the other hand, was not so impressed! Even with big brother Jake on there, she was having none of it! Jacob didn't like it either. He was up there by himself and he just screamed!

He preferred the ground and playing with the puppy Hoss. He just squealed and laughed!

Mama's girl! When she first got on, she looked like she wanted to scream but after a few steps, she really liked it.

Jake LOVED it. He was so completely excited and started talking 100mph! And he didn't stop talking the entire time he was on the horse! :)

He just pointed and jabbered:)