A Visit to the Denver Zoo

 On Tuesday we went to the Denver Zoo. This is the second zoo I've been to and I loved it just as much as the zoo we went to in Seattle, except this time we had two little babies with us, which made it extra fun! Charlotte brought her leopard print leggings specifically to wear at the zoo. :)

 As soon as we walked in, we saw the lions followed by a few other animals that I don't know what they were technically called. It was so fun to see Hunter and JP's excitement at all the animals!

 After leaving one indoor exhibit, we found a peacock wandering around. There were a few of them, maybe 4? just roaming free. That was super cool! 

 The animal JP really wanted to see was the giraffe. By far my favorite too! 

 JP didn't want his picture taken with them, nor did Hunter, so this is the best I could do...

 Next we went to see the sea lions and the seals. Charlotte was delighted by both exhibits!

 This is why I'm not in many pictures...because I look like this. 

 The indoor tropical reef was so much fun! Dad, Grandma, and JP were separated from the rest of us, so they were able to watch a snake devour a mouse. I'm glad I wasn't there to see that... I was busy enough following Hunter around and trying to let Charlotte see the exhibits too.  

 Cousin Stevie was so cute when he saw this massive turtle! Clapping his hands and squealing!

 

 Charlotte liked all the fish and tried catching a few. She even tried climbing into a few of the tanks. :)

 Hunter was equally as hard as JP to get a picture of, but I was happy get this one!

 I've probably said it a hundred times, but Hunter is the sweetest kid - especially when it comes to babies. He hauled Charlotte around like this for a while, lifting her up to see the snakes. 

 Perry really enjoyed the tropical reef too. Probably because of the snake thing. I enjoyed it too...until I realized after lunch what happened when we were inside...

 For whatever reason, we weren't allowed to bring our strollers into the tropical reef, nor could we bring our food. I completely forgot there were M&M's in a sealed bag in the *new* bag I just made for Charli. After we came out, I picked up the bag and saw M&M's in her seat and then I remembered they were in there, but I thought Grandma might have sneaked (snuck?) her a few. At lunch I was digging in the bag for her bib and felt a bunch of M&M pieces at the bottom of the bag, followed by a discovery of a hole... What I've gathered is that &@*% peacock nibbled at my bag until he got to the M&M's. Since we practically had the zoo to ourselves, there wasn't anyone to fend of the peacocks while we were inside... 

While on a bathroom break, Hunter was running with his hands in his pocket and tripped. Landed right on his face and ended up with a little road burn on his forehead and a scuffed up nose. Didn't cry too much!

 After lunch we bundled back up and walked out into the wind to find the monkeys and the gorillas. 

 SO SWEET!

This was JP's face after leaving the penguins when he realized I was watching him through my camera...He's so animated!

 

Before we left the zoo, I insisted we see the elephants. I also insisted that Perry and I get a few pictures taken of the two of us. Really I wanted a family pictures, but the boys weren't cooperating...Go figure. 

Aren't we silly? Hahaha! On the way out zoo we ran into the peacocks again and one started squawking at me and walking/running towards me. Pretty sure he was the one that tore my bag apart... After the zoo we drove across Denver to see Grandma's brother Bob and his family. It was so nice to finally meet Aunt Joyce and some more of the family! 

The drive home was a little tense as there was a winter storm warming but we made it back alright! The wind here is ridiculous! I was white-knuckle driving on the way to Cheyenne from Casper with 60+ mph wind gusts on our way here. Perry offered to drive, but there was no way I was going to pull over and get out of the car...So far we've seen 3 semi-trucks tripped over in the ditch. I am SO glad I don't live here!