The Bronx Zoo

We had the opportunity to visit the Bronx Zoo on Saturday with Ben’s folks. One the benefits of closing my diaper business is that I had some spare money for a zoo membership, which gets me into four NYC zoos and the aquarium for free. We found out during our visit that the membership was worth even more, as it allowed us to get into any of the “extras” for free. And some of the extras were things like the monkey house, the children’s zoo, and the carousel.

It was supposed to be raining, but God answered our prayers for good weather and we had sunshine all day! Ready for picture overload?

Nolan was really excited about the snake, to my dismay and my dad’s delight. My dad can’t wait to introduce Nolan to a real snake when we visit Colorado next month.

Nolan also thought the goats were great…until one licked his finger!

Nolan’s first look at a real cow. And a pretty sorry looking cow it is!

Elaine had been asking to feed the animals all morning. We finally got there, but she was too scared of this goat to feed them. She did hold out a couple of pieces of food, but quickly backed up with the tongue reached out to get it.

Mom & Dad sporting their new ears.

I guess it must be zoo protocol to have a bunch of peacocks roaming freely. The Denver Zoo is the same way. This one was showing off his colors!

Tiger

Elaine was looking all over for the giraffes, but we were having a hard time finding them. She settled for this African Wild Dog and a short rest on the rock. Looks pretty real for a zoo sign, right?

Finally! The giraffes!

Time for a couple of pictures…

Nolan was snoozing, Elaine didn’t want her picture taken.

There were 3 mother-baby pairs of these monkeys. We were watching just one couple when all of the sudden the monkeys chased another mother-baby duo out of the house and all sat there screaming at the mother and baby. It was pretty funny!

This polar bear changed positions while we watched…and he had a hard time standing up on those back legs!

I was really excited to see this Red Panda out and active. Elaine just got a National Geographic Magazine all about the Red Panda, and we have been reading it together.

Pretty boring lion. Just like a male.

Elaine enjoyed reading all of the zoo signs, which Ben said is just like his dad. :-)

We had fun watching the apes and gorillas. {This was one of the extra fee entrances…I never heard of charging extra to see the monkeys before}. The gorillas kept running and banging the glass {though we seemed to be looking away each time it happened}. They also walked around over the top of us, and Elaine enjoyed watching through the glass.