St. Louis Zoo

After seeing the Arch, we headed over to the zoo.  Just our family went, as others headed back to Cookeville and some explored different parts of St. Louis.  The St. Louis Zoo is free, and it is a really nice zoo.  (You just have to pay for parking, which was $15.00.)  There are some aspects of the zoo that you have to pay for if you want, such as the sea lion show, I Max stuff, and a children's area.  The zoo is really big, and since we got there at 3:00 we really didn't have time for extras.  Although, I would have enjoyed relaxing to a sea lion show.  We were all very tired!  My feet ached as we went through the park.  There were lots of neat exhibits.  The "big cat" exhibit was awesome.  There were lots of cats, and we got there for feeding time!  The puma was eyeing Mercy as we stood outside the cage.  Even the guys standing next to us noticed it and said something about it as I picked up Mercy.  It is a little unnerving to see an animal like that lowering his head and glaring at your daughter.  Maybe it was the pink that attracted him! hahaha!  Here are some pictures of our afternoon.

Mercy liked the pink flowers.

 

Mercy riding on Ryan's shoulders.

 

enjoying the zoo

 

kookaburra

 

anteater

 

looking for the hippo

 

there it is

 

Josiah with the hippo!  A very cool exhibit!

hyena

All we saw of the cheetah was the sign.

Checking out the Asian elephant.

upclose of the Asian elephant

Leopord

Black Panther
Josiah was excited to see it! 

Lions

baby zebra

ugly camals

 

monkeys

looking at the monkeys

Mercy with her favorites! The Flamingos!

the kids and I

a bear

Penguins

 

Looking at the penguins

We enjoyed these guys:

 

We had a bit of a traumatic experience at the zoo.  Once we finished our first section of the zoo, we sat down on some benches to decide where to go next.  Well, Aedan got his leg stuck between the benches.  He seems to have a knack for stuff like this.  (He has gotten his head stuck at two other zoos...Norfolk and Columbia.)  We tried and tried and couldn't figure out how to get his leg out.  A nice couple stopped to help us.  Finally, the guy went to go get help for us.  Two park rangers and the first aid guy came to help.  They pretty made all pulled the metal benches apart to pull his leg out.  They were all very nice and helpful.  Aedan was scared, and a little embarrassed, but he was glad to be free from the bench!  The guy who initially stopped told me that he had gotten his leg stuck in this type of bench when he was little at the zoo.  I didn't get any pictures of his leg stuck, but here is an after shot:

poor guy!