Zoo Morning

Early mornings at the zoo are the best. It opens a half an hour early for members, and it's totally empty. The other day we were the second group in the zoo after the doors opened. It was still nice and cool too. We got to see many of the animals still sleeping, and then others, like the lions, were way more active than they would be later. The only disappointment for the day was that we didn't get to see the new baby sea lion, even though we stopped by twice. Maybe next time.
We saw a peacock in a tree! I know they're birds, but I never really imagined one in a tree.
And we enjoyed some of Mimi and Dolly's new artwork posted along the construction walls for the new Asian Tropics habitat.
I figure Natalie walked over three miles that day. We covered the whole zoo, including the primates, and then even backtracked a bit to check out the sea lions again. She had so much fun.
Here she is being a flamingo.
And we managed to catch the "flamingo walk" where they take a few flamingos for a short walk around, and then hang out for a bit to answer questions. Here's Lexi making an escape attempt.
We also rode on the carousel for the first time. Natalie loved it and wanted to do it again without me behind her.
Here she is on the cheetah after I got off.
And here's her second mount. She loved choosing from all the different wooden animals.
It was a great morning at the zoo. She was so worn out from all the walking and playing that she was asleep before we left the parking lot!