St. Louis Day 2: the zoo!

On our second day in St. Louis, we went to the zoo. I am so thankful that we did it on this day, because the two days after turned brutally hot. The day we went, both boys woke up early, and we got there shortly after it opened, so it was still pretty decent out. We stayed about 4 hours, and it was just getting hot when we left...but nothing like the rest of the week was!

Hunter made his first ever debut to the STL zoo and promptly fell asleep. Pretty impressed! Ha! Holden was pumped to see all the animals. We went to the stingray exhibit first since it is free for the first hour that the zoo is opened. We hadn't gone in the past because the line had been so long. It was one of my favorite things that we did!

The stingrays all had their stingers out, which made me feel much better since any time I think stingrays, I think of the Crocodile Hunter's death. They were really friendly because they wanted to eat. We got to feed them squid and little fish. It was the weirdest experience! We held our hands flat at the bottom of the water and put the food sticking up between our fingers. Then they sucked it out of our hands vacuum style. I got some great video footage in which I am screaming in the background because one of the males decided to chase a female and splashed right up out of the water and back down, spraying water all over us!

Next we rode the train while it wasn't too busy.

Hunter enjoyed his first choo choo ride until the end, when he was hungry and we weren't to our stop yet. I think everyone on the train knew that he needed to eat. :) I love his rosy little cheeks in this picture.

We went into the penguin exhibit to cool off. It was a little too cool for Hunter; feels like a freezer in there! We didn't have a blanket for him so Jay did a very quick walk through with the stroller. :) Holden really enjoyed all the penguins. some of them almost looked stuffed to me because they were so still and all puffed up. He loved the puffins that splashed us with freezing water; thought that was hilarious!

The STL zoo carousel is so cool! It has neat animals that you don't normally see on a merry-go-round. Holden scoped it out while waiting in line and chose the caterpillar. Cracks me up! Hunter had his first carousel ride on a lion. Holden was the exact same age (a little over 4 mos.) when he rode this same carousel for the first time. He rode a zebra. :) Hunter LOVED watching the people as we went around; babbled and shrieked and grinned. Such a good boy!

This is one of my favorite pics of the whole trip. I think it's hilarious! Hunter was fussing and Holden was clearly tired of listening to it!

Next stop: Children's Zoo. There are so many neat things to see and do there. It's very hands-on. We were laughing because this chicken was walking around behind Jay and my parents like it was the most natural thing in the world.

The otter family. Makes me laugh!

Hunter is as tall as a red-tailed hawk. And Jay appears to be the same height as a koala. Ha! Holden refused to pose for a picture by the chart this year. Guess how tall he was at age 3 will remain a mystery.

LOVED having Grammy and Papa with us! What troopers!

Holden talked all day about wanting to see the elephants. The thing about the St. Louis zoo is that it takes a lot of walking in each exhibit. By the time we finally got to them, he was grumpy. See top right picture. I'm coaxing him to smile and he is scowling. Also bottom right picture on Daddy's shoulders pouting. This is a typical example of life with our three year old. :)

Some of the other animals that we saw.

One of my favorites: the giraffes! I just think they are so neat. About as close to a dinosaur as you can get. (But nice. Hee hee!)

Ride back to the hotel. I think we wore the boys out!

Hunter has just started eating baby food. I thought he'd be a bigger fan of it than he is so far, because he LOVES his bottles and is my big boy! I think he could take it or leave it so far. He definately DETESTS sweet peas (can't really blame him but I was surprised because Holden loved them as a baby) and will literally gag if I put them in his mouth. His favorites seem to be peaches and sweet potatoes. He must like the color orange. :) It gets extremely messy because he puts his hand in his mouth between about each bite. Wish some teeth would pop up for all his hard work! He is a chewing, sucking, drooly mess of a baby! Love him. ;) My friend, Annie, loaned us a portable, collapsable bouncy seat that was wonderful on our trip. He also spent a lot of time rolling around on towels or a blankies on the floor.

What is happening in this picture? One of the funniest stories of our trip, depending on who you talk to. Jay may not agree. He went in our hotel room bathroom to take a shower and got locked in the bathroom! The doorknob apparently was on its last leg. It took me a good 5 minutes to convince him that Holden and I were NOT holding the knob! After wrangling on both ends of the door, we realized he was definately stuck. I called the front desk, and the lady was laughing pretty hard as she told me she'd contact maintenance right away. It took the guy a good 10-15 minutes to pry the door open. Luckily, Jay had taken a clean pair of undies and shorts in with him! Guess he could have used the shower curtain otherwise! Ha! Holden was very concerned and was chewing on his fingers the whole time.

Once the bathroom door fiasco was over, Dad and I took Holden up to swim in the rooftop pool. It felt so good in the hot afternoon sun! We had a great time pretending that Holden and I were escaped convincts and Papa was the sheriff. He'd "lock us up" and we'd escape. (What can I say, my dad is a retired prison guard and my husband is a deputy. Games about the law kinda come naturally.)

My parents had tickets to Monday night's cardinals game. We took the boys out for a carriage ride. Holden loves them, and Hunter just looked around with big, wide eyes. Our horse was named Benny. :) Hunter took a little evening nap on one of the beds. Daddy and Holden rode the escalators while he slept. :)