One of the friendly salesmen from Shawn's work told him that his family had a season pass to the Philly Zoo. With the pass, they could take friends for free and invited us to come sometime. Shawn talked to me and then told Landon - who is approximately our age, and he & his wife have a 3-year-old daughter and 5-month-old son - that we would take him up on his very nice offer. That was Thursday. Landon told Shawn that the following day was open for him, and so away we went on Friday! The guys are pictured below with Caleb.
The zoo opens at 9:30, but they suggested we get there at 10 am due to traffic. So, I got up and went for my morning run and then we got ready and headed off. We pulled into our parking spot just before 10 am, but they were running a little late (I remember the days of nursing, so it was not a big deal!). The first thing we saw was the Channel 6 hot air balloon. I couldn't believe it was only $15 a person to get a ride in it over the zoo and it was screened in so the kids couldn't fall out. But, we didn't end up getting to go up in it this time round - maybe next time! Joshua was intrigued by it, as was their daughter Natalie, who's pictured below.
Landon had dropped off his wife Kristen and their two kids at the entrance to meet us and go in while he parked. She came right up to us, which was good since we didn't really know who we were looking for. We walked inside and there is a huge fountain, which reminded little Natalie that she had to go potty. So, we offered to watch their little son Owen in his stroller as Joshua ran around the water with some other kiddos. Then Landon walked up, and when the girls got back from the bathroom, away we went! On a side note, speaking of bathrooms, we had two days in a row (including at the zoo!) with no accidents from Joshua. He also went to the potty there with our little travel potty seat and did a great job!
We saw many different animals that day, not all of which did we capture on camera since we let both boys run for the most part, only using the stroller when necessary. The first exhibit we came to was of these huge tortoises (and we learned the difference between turtles and tortoises). They almost looked like huge boulders! And then the kids got to pet just an empty shell of one and see the backbone inside, etc. Here's Shawn & Joshua in front of the parrots.
The elephants recently moved to the Pittsburgh Zoo, and there was a long explanation on why that we didn't bother to read. So, we continued on. The next cool exhibit that I remember was the monkeys. This gorilla was a female - the male was absolutely huge and looked like he was sulking in a corner. There was a gal there to explain that the men rule over the ladies, etc. and this part was indoors so we let Caleb run free as the momma chased him to make sure he was safe. So, I got to hear maybe half of everything (if that!). But that was okay since the kids were having fun.
The picture below which is somewhat hard to see is of an orangutan, which honestly looked dressed up like a homeless bum. He was holding a blankey and had a sheet over him. When we came to snap pictures, he picked up his clothing and climbed up the side of the building to hide.
This next picture was of another Orangutan holding a box of Cheez-Its, which is probably Joshua's favorite snack. He looked up at the box in awe.
We moved on from there and saw a 'golden lion tamarin,' sloths, a hippopatamus (where I explained to Joshua that he sings the song at Christmas - now he knows what he's asking for!), a rhinocerus, okapis (which are a cousin to the giraffe, according to the sign), and more that I can't remember! As we were walking, there was a big peacock in the middle of the street, and Joshua was afraid it was going to get hurt. We explained that on this road, there weren't any cars so the peacock would be okay. 
After a little while, Kristen left to find a hiding spot to nurse their son, and we continued to look at exhibits. We saw a cool polar bears exhibit where the bears were swimming in the water. It was incredible to watch and made us all hot and want to join them...well, sort of. We also saw other types of Bears in the 'bear country.'
Next it was time to grab some lunch. Landon said lunch was on them, which was really sweet. And God provided a table for our large group in the midst of this extremely busy cafe. The kids barely ate, which made it difficult for us to eat, but it worked out okay.
After lunch, we went to see the tigers n cats exhibit. Here are a couple great picture of Joshua & Natalie looking at the pumas.
And we also saw Cheetahs and tigers. On the way home, Joshua said "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"
And it's true, we saw lions, too! But, unfortunately we missed the Zebras since we somehow walked around them. Next time! We didn't even get to see half the zoo, I'll bet, in the four hours we were there.
I LOVED seeing the giraffes, though. I'm realizing this post isn't really in order of our day, because we looked at the giraffes before lunch. It doesn't really matter, though.
After awhile, Natalie had been begging to get her face painted, and they had told us about a great petting zoo area and train rides, etc. So, Landon bought tickets for the kids to ride the carousel (which Joshua called "the big circle") and they loved it. Extremely thoughtful, Landon bought another pass for Joshua to ride since we said he wouldn't be interested in getting his face painted. So, the guys had told the Bean he could go again. He thought that meant stay there and ride again, rather than waiting in line again. He was not thrilled (an understatement) as we got back into the long line. Caleb was also getting anxious as there wasn't a huge space for him to safely run. It was definitely past nap time. Momma went with the Bean this time on the carousel ride, which he loved once again, and then Daddy said that it was time to go. Landon had bought tickets for the kids to ride the train, which hopefully they can use another time. Caleb passed out in the stroller as we walked out of the park, and so did their youngest son, who also was starting to get fussy. On a side note, their 5-month-old has outgrown 12-month clothing, weighs over 22 pounds and has the biggest hands and feet I've ever seen on a baby. He weighs more than Caleb and almost as much as Joshua! It was pretty impressive.
I was a little disappointed to be leaving so soon because I thought that once Caleb fell asleep in the stroller, we might have had another hour before Joshua fell apart. But, I understood that Daddy didn't want to let it get to that point since we were in a more professional situation. So, that just means we'll have to go back someday. While admission would normally be expensive, I think there's enough there to somewhat justify the price to spend a day there when the kids are a little older. We only paid for the $12 parking to park a couple blocks away. But, it took us over two and a half hours to get home in the barely crawling traffic, which was awful!!! So, it's good we left then verses waiting. We got home just before our babysitter arrived, which we had scheduled the week before when we didn't know we'd have plans that day.
Shawn & I went and walked around the "First Friday" in Lancaster City, which included touring the new Lancaster Academy of Music building and some incredible art exhibits. We walked and held hands and listened to the music playing and then eventually went and ate at Fiorentino's by the airport. We got home, bathed the kids, put them to bed and crashed. We knew we had a busy day planned for the following day, so we definitely needed the rest from this big day. It was really fun! We enjoyed the zoo and the company - Kristen was also involved in MOPS and we had a ton in common. It was a great day!
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