Oregon Zoo

After our first failed attempt at going to the Oregon Zoo we tried again on Thursday. What a huge difference. On Tuesday we drove to the zoo to find the parking lot full. We followed signs down the freeway to a large church parking lot where there was shuttle parking. We parked and got in line to ride school buses to the zoo. We waited in that line for well over an hour. Once we got on the school bus and pulled into the zoo parking lot we were stuck in tons of traffic and it took at least 30 minutes or more just to make the 5 minutes drive and get to where the bus was letting us off. While we were in that traffic we could see the enormous line just to pay to enter the zoo. I talked to Madison about it and told her we were going to be waiting another hour or two just to enter the zoo and then there would be thousands of people in there. I can't even imagine the lines for the bathrooms or food in there that day. She readily agreed we should go on a different day. The Oregon Zoo offers a discounted price of $4.00 per person on the second Tuesday of every month and that just happened to be the day we attempted to go. Our experience this day was so much different (BETTER) than it would have been if we had attempted to enter that first day. We happily took that bus right back to our car on Tuesday.

There wasn't a lot of people here this particular day but there were several little zoo summer camps going on. We kept seeing different ones and it looked so fun. Kennedy thought so too and thought she was part of the camp herself.

This is a really beautiful zoo. I love Woodland Park Zoo and appreciate the natural element but this zoo was so nice with it's paved pathways, numerous food and beverage stands, lots of bathrooms and a really large grassy area where they have a lot of shows throughout the day. I hope to visit again with the girls.

Up until this point on our trip we had one long day of driving followed by lots of activity and going, going, going. Madison had more than she could handle and the heat of this day took her over the edge. She was doing fine for about an hour and then she started complaining of not feeling well. The heat and exhaustion of the past several days wore her out. She was a trooper but we finished up our must-sees and topped it off with a short train ride and called it good for the day. Madison continued to feel crummy that evening but was fine the next morning.

We arrived at a little petting zoo and Kennedy was very intrigued. She wanted to go right in.

She grabbed a brush and got started.

She ditched the brush and opted for petting them instead. She wouldn't even look up at me, she was mesmerized by these little goats.

She had no intention of leaving anytime soon and sat right down. I think I've got a little goat whisperer on my hands.

Still there.

She finally looked up and acknowledged me. She just loved these little guys.

Goofballs!

In a Jeep.

Madison's tummy ache came and went and was bad enough to not want ice cream. However, when I got some her tummy got better and she ate it instead of me.

Um, enough said.

I love Polar Bears. We've seen them before at Point Defiance Zoo but they are always amazing to watch. Once we saw these majestic animals we could call our animal seeking over.

A little pretend Polar Bear pregnancy den that Kennedy loved climbing in.

They have a train ride that we wanted to do before we left. It was a nice way to cool off and see some neat things but Miss Kennedy missed the whole way back as her head bobbed up and down until she fell asleep sitting up. My girls played hard and were wiped out.

I'm ready to go now Mom! We headed back to our hotel to start packing for our trip home the next day.

I had to throw in this last picture of Kennedy at the hotel. My mom brought a bag of Cheetos and I had told Kennedy she couldn't have any right then. She snuck the bag and went and hid under the coffee table shoving a handful in her mouth. That turkey!

That brought our trip to an end. The next day the girls slept most of the way home. I, however, was exhausted since I didn't get that long nap. It took a few days for us to recover but it was all worth it. We loved spending time with Grandma and doing some new and different things. This was a memory making trip for sure. We can't wait to come back again!