The Cincinnati Zoo

The Cincinnati Zoo is a must every time we visit. Unfortunately the cousins couldn't join us on our zoo adventure, leaving my kids so disappointed that they spent the first part of the morning down in the dumps. Even Noah's cool Indiana Jones costume didn't make him feel any better.

To add to Savannah's disappointment was the fact that the huge new lion exhibit would have its grand opening the very next day. Ahhhh! To miss seeing her favorite animal by just one day was such a bummer for her. She had to settle with taking a picture in front of the new lion statue. 

They seemed to perk up a bit as we sat in the shade waiting for the cheetah show. However, the wait was long (we had gotten there early to get good seats in the shade), it was hot, and I had forgotten the drinks in the car. The spiral down to meltdown city was in full force! Thank goodness I was able to get this picture before frowns became the permanent facial expression!

Little Savannah the cheetah who was a baby last summer, all grown up and chasing the ball.

Thank goodness Grandpa stepped up and erased all the blues - ice cream can cure all problems, at least for a time, and it did the trick with mine.  Back to all smiles! 

We took a ride on the slowest train in the universe.

Then we had some fun feeding the birds!

Unfortunately for Xander one of the birds he was feeding got a little aggressive and was fighting Xander for the cup of juice. I came over to help Xander but as I tried to grab the cup, Xander let go thinking I had it...but I didn't. The bird was victorious and Xander was quite upset with me. Poor guy. After that fiasco we headed to the bird show, something we've never done at the zoo. It was so much fun to see all the beautiful birds, especially the ones they sent flying over our heads.

We made a quick stop to see the gorillas; I just can't visit the zoo without seeing my favorites! I was saddened to hear that one of their males had died of old age in recent weeks but the one male they still have put on quite an impressive display for us.

Our last stop of the day was at the reptile house where the cobra came right up to us to say hello. Good thing that glass is there. It would have been ultra cool to see his hood up but I still thought it was neat to see him so active.