Our new zoo

Right after we moved to Arizona, one of the things Noah continued to lament over was that he missed "his zoo" in Utah. So, we began looking online at "our new zoo" here. We also found out about a program currently running at libraries here called culture passes. It took us several tries of being at the library before opening to be the first one to snatch that day's zoo culture pass, but we finally got ours...and so we got a FREE trip to our new zoo! My friend Danielle and her kids got a culture pass too and met us there. Here is a picture of Noah, Lincoln and Tristan right after arriving at the zoo.

This little impromptu planning session was so cute. The boys laid out the zoo map on this bench and were looking at what animals we should go see...Noah had his idea of the ideal route all figured out.

Lincoln and Noah in front of the Savanna area of our zoo.

I still find these little mountains around here (in background), that look like mounds and plops of rock, intriguing. I'm sure this type of formation has a real name....can anyone enlighten me? Either way, here's a cute brothers-picture.

Noah particularly looked forward to seeing the African animals at the zoo. This white rhino that we saw had some sort of weird skin thing going on at the hump of its neck (click on photo if you're actually interested to see it). Some sort of skin tag or benign growth I guess? Noah was intent on finding a zoo-worker that would have the answer for us, but we didn't on that visit. Maybe next time. Here's a shot of Noah with the rhinoceros in the background too.

Lincoln insisted on sitting with his bum on the other side of the rail for this picture. Not ideal, but at least there was a deep ravine between the baboons and our side of the enclosure...

Danielle keeping a steady hand out for Lincoln while he admired the Orangutans.

Noah comparing his hand to the size of an Orangutan hand. He thought that was sooo cool.

Lincoln giving things a try too...

Tristan, Lincoln, and Noah climbing on a statue at the Komodo Dragon exhibit.


This exhibit was one of the most anticipated for Noah...we looked up all sorts of information on the dragons and Noah will enthusiastically tell you that in the wild that they live "on the Indonesian Islands" (it sounds so cute in his little 4 year old voice). The two dragons here are kept in separate, but adjacent exhibits...we were informed that's because they fight (typical siblings), but the zoo's website also states that it's to prevent breeding since they are siblings. Their names are Gaia (the sister, who is 7 feet long), and Ivan (the brother, who is 8 feet long). They are really very interesting creatures, and quite impressive to see in person. Noah wanted a picture of him with one of the dragons...you can see it in the background here. These pictures were the best that I could do through glass, but it was fun that they did the exhibit that way so we can get up so close to the animals.

After our picnic lunch (which wasn't a huge hit), a couple skinned knees (Lincoln running too fast), and seeing lots of great animals (we left some for our next visit)...we were ready for a change of pace. So, we changed the boys into swimsuits and enjoyed one of the zoo's two splash pads. The kids had a great time running through the water...and enjoying some snacks (always a highlight) as seen here. And look! Baby Brady actually made it into a picture :)
We had a great time, but were all pretty worn out too. Both boys fell asleep on the drive home, and Linc was asleep before we even left the parking lot. It was lots of fun (thanks for going with us Danielle & Tristan)! I'm sure that we'll make another visit back to "our new zoo" before long.