Explore St. Louis: Our Recent Trip to The Zoo!

I was off work this past Monday and wanted to do something fun with the kids. My every other Mondays off are usually spent running errands or going to appointments, but we had the morning clear before Jackson's hair cut appointment so we decided to head to the zoo. My sister met us there and we all had a lot of fun!

When we first got there, we walked over to where my sister would be coming in and waited a few minutes for them to get there. While waiting I tried my best to get a cute picture of these two with this elephant fountain. It's nearly impossibly to get them to both look at the camera and smile these days. Especially Jackson!! This was pretty much the best shot I got. Oh well.

Avery was so excited to see her baby cousin Emerson!

When we first got there, I stopped to get a map and Jackson got very interested in trying to read it and figure out where to go. It was really cute.

When we first got there, we headed straight for the Children's Zoo. Our Zoo is free to get into, but there are a few things that cost once you're in. The Children's Zoo is an extra fee but it's free if you get there within the first hour they are open. So we went there first to get in free!

Jackson checking out some jellyfish in the Children's Zoo.

The children's zoo is very hands on and interactive. This was the area where you could watch the zoo-keepers prepare the food for the animals. So there was a station where the kids could play like they were preparing food as well.

Baby Emerson was enjoying himself too. Lots of fun things to look at.

Outside in the Children's Zoo there were a lot of play areas. The kids loved it.

After the children's zoo, we headed over to the River's Edge. There they have the elephants and the hippos along with several other animals.

After the River's Edge, we hopped on the train and took it over to Big Cat Country!

This was Emerson's first trip to the zoo and I'd say he enjoyed it very much!

After checking out the big cats, we went over and saw the zebra!

Then we got back in line for the train to head over to see the Polar Bear. The train is one of the extras at the zoo, but since we are zoo members this year, we are able to ride for free! It has 4 stops and you can ride it around the whole zoo all at once, or stop and get out to see that area and then get back on to go to the next stop. The kids LOVED the train! 

The sweet conductor waved to the kids as the train pulled into the station!

My sister with Emerson.

Me and Avery on the Train. This was the first time either of my kids had ridden the train at the zoo!

The three older boys. My sister babysits Cameron (the little boy at the top) so he came along too. He and Jackson are buddies!

Then we stopped to see the Polar Bear, which is fairly new to our zoo. 

After checking out some flamingo, we got back on the train to go see the seals and sea-lions. They are my favorite animals at the zoo and the zoo recently re-built the exhibit. Now there is a tunnel you can walk through and the water is all around you. It's very cool.

After seeing the seals and sea-lions, we decided to head home. The kids were getting tired and crabby and Avery and Emerson had both fallen asleep. It was a very fun day at the zoo and I'm looking forward to the next time we can go!