Gorillas Like Pudding

April is here and the weather was absolutely gorgeous today! I anticipated about 70 degrees but my car gauge read 77 at 2pm today and I think I might have a slight sunburn on the back of my neck and shoulders. Oops! Guess it's time to put the sunblock in the bag. After days of gray skies and cold temperatures, spring has sprung and we love the sunshine. So we got out to the zoo with a friend from Ian's class and his mom to enjoy the beautiful day God gave us.

It was one of our best zoo days yet. The kids enjoyed exploring the animals together, playing on the playground, jumping in the bounce house, and eating lunch together by the lake. We went through the children's zoo area and the goats were a big hit with all three kids. Although the boys had lots of fun balancing and jumping off the block walls like wild monkeys.

We had a fun encounter with the Daddy gorilla in the Great EscAPE exhibit. We chose a spot in the viewing window of the indoor exhibit to watch the gorillas while we enjoyed a pudding cup snack.


Daddy gorilla was way up on the hill watching us and before long he slowly made his way down the hill and settled right up against the glass and stared at us and down at our pudding cups as if to ask, "What 'cha eating?" He was so close I could look right into his eyes and you could see his breath as it fogged the glass.

The kids were scared at first and backed away from the glass but I attempted to be brave and stay in my spot. Wow, this guy was just enormous (or "hughnormous" as Ian would say) and it was very intimidating to have such a powerful, wild animal just inches from me and the kids on the other side of protective glass. The gorilla just sat there very still, watching us and our food.

After a few seconds the kids decided to return to the bench and started talking to the big guy. Then things turned really cute. Anna offered her Monkey and her pappy and Ian was showing the gorilla his zoo key. At that time more people came into the exhibit (it had just been the three of us and the gorilla for a while) and everyone was in awe of the gorilla at the glass. It was entertaining that he was curious about our food but quite unnerving at the same time thinking of how I'd possibly protect my babies from such a large animal in the event that something went wrong.

We then moved on to see the elephants and were excited there were still seats open at the "show" they have daily. So we got to learn about the elephants and see their "tricks", which are really their exercises and ways in which the trainers are able to safely get close enough to check their health on a regular basis. They bowed, balanced on stumps and logs, "clapped" their ears, waved with their trunks, and more. The kids were pretty amazed by the show and I was too!
We ended up spending five hours there today and the kids were such troopers. They really hung in there and we all agreed it was one of the best zoo trips we've had yet. It was so much fun sharing the day with friends!