Can You Come Out And Play?

We were lucky enough to make our first trip to the St. Louis Zoo this year, on one of the prettiest days to date.

This family had SO much fun on the preschool trip to the zoo!

Thursday marked the annual zoo trip for Grace's school, the Hillsboro United Methodist Church Preschool.  And though I don't remember any of it, I went on a zoo trip with that same school about 30 years ago.

Preschool typically starts at 9 each morning, which means we usually arrive anywhere from 9:07 to 9:20, depending on the day.  For the zoo trip, we had to be at the church by 7:30 a.m., which is a feat in itself, because some days we aren't even up at 7:30!  But somehow or other, we managed to make it on time, and we weren't even the last ones there!

Hanging out with her classmate, Mia, at the zoo.

Excited students and their parents boarded two buses and headed out for the zoo.  Grace was very good on the way up, and we enjoyed visiting with some of the other families around us.

Gracie and her friend, Bailey!

Once we got to the zoo, we split up and wandered around the zoo on our own.  Kyle and I feel very fortunate to live so close to such an amazing zoo, and it's always one of our favorite places to visit.

Time for a photo op with Conner and his dad!

We started out at the River's Edge, which was near the entrance, and is home to the elephants and rhinos. Three of the elephants were out, including the baby elephant, so it was fun to see them eating their breakfast together.  We also liked seeing the hippos in the water.  Kyle liked watching two of them fight, and Grace just liked the fishes.

After that, we headed to see the penguins.  That exhibit was closed the last time we were at the zoo because of some renovations to the polar bear exhibit.  It opens on June 6, and Kyle can hardly wait to go back!

The penguins have always been one of Kyle's favorite animals at the zoo, and Grace really likes them too, especially when they splash.  She just giggled and giggled, even though it's one of the stinkiest exhibits of the whole zoo!

A selfie with daddy in the penguin habitat!

After the penguins, we took a tour of the Jungle of the Apes.  I was going to just leave Kyle there, but he kept following us.  All of the apes seemed really active in their habitats, which was fun to see.

Before our next animal encounter, we made a brief stop at the zoo cafe for a snack and a drink, and we just enjoyed a chance to visit.

Mommy tried to leave Daddy at the zoo, but he managed to make it home.

We had to meet the bus just after noon, but we made one more visit to see Big Cat Country. Many of them were sleeping, but we wandered out to some other areas to see the giraffes, camels and even an ostrich.

And then it was time to go back to the bus to head to our picnic. It was fun to share lunch with the other families in our preschool.  We feel so blessed that they have all embraced our "Grace-filled journey" this past school year.  They have taken us in, prayed for us, laughed with us and grown with us.  You guys are the best, and we LOVE preschool!

Holding hands with daddy at the zoo.

MLH