Love Our Zoo Membership

I love that we have a zoo membership. Every visit is unique, and it's one of my favorite places to take AC for an outing.

It's great to go on a weekday, and to get there early right when they open so it isn't so hot. We got there at 9am on a Tuesday, which was perfect.

I also recommend hitting the popular attractions first, while it's dead.

We started this trip at the carousel, and actually had it to ourselves. This was her first time on the carousel at the zoo, although she has been on a carousel before. She had it in her mind that she would ride a pink horse, so to find that the animals she would be riding were not horses, but zoo animals, and that none of them were pink, was upsetting to AC at first. She came around pretty quickly and decided on the elephant with the pink saddle. Then wanted to ride again, opting for the dolphin second go round.

From there we visited the lorikeets. No line. Only one other family in there with us. These are both normally areas where you have a long line to wait in at peek times (carousel and lorikeets). The lorikeets are AWESOME. For a dollar/token, you can buy a little cup of nectar to feed the birds. They will land near you and even on you. They are very comfortable with people, and are very beautiful birds. I love the videos shot with my phone below. Couldn't decide on a favorite, so you'll find most of them here.



We also love to see the Meerkats each time we visit. This time Anna Claire was brave and willing to crawl in the little observatory area inside the habitat where you can see them up close.

After Meerkats, we were hungry. We found a picnic table near the New World, like last time. I had a lunch packed for us: bowtie caprese pasta salad, PBJs, nectarine and strawberry salad, and some edamame. Anna Claire was so hungry! She ate her lunch up, AND some of mine. She is such a good little eater.We also had some surprise guests at lunch: a family of geese! We fed them the crusts from AC's sandwich.

After lunch, I knew we had about a half an hour before we needed to leave. We zipped through the New World, which I have a love/hate relationship with. Love it because my child loves it, but hate it because it's dark in there, and it's always crowded. Even when you arrive at 9am. I have no tricks to offer here.

From there, we went to see the flamingos (AKA: Mingos!). We spent a good bit of time here. Anna Claire loves bridges that have a bit of bounce. They remind her of the long trampolines at gymnastics. She practiced her jumping for the longest. She said, "I jumpin' Mommy! Miss Mary gonna be proud of you!"

Needed a hat, just like Mommy. :)

Mingos!

Time for your closeup, Mingo.

Love this one, for some reason.