Zooing with our York Friends

We were treated to an absolutely gorgeous day in the middle of June, made better only by a visit from my two girlfriends from York, Desiree and Heather, and their three adorable kids.  Desiree's son Landon is 5 ("and 11/12ths!") and daughter Sosie is 3; Heather's son Alex is 15 months.  And so, with our 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5-year-old little ones, we headed off to the Philadelphia Zoo to spend the day with critters big and small. We were excited to get to host our friends for their first trip there!

Alex, Joergen, Sosie, Landon, and Liam

Joergen and Liam

One of our first stops in the zoo was to KidZooU- the brand new children's zoo exhibit!  Inside, Joergen got to ride a sheep while some of the other kids played in a giant ant colony replica and learned about recycling and water conservation.

Outside, they spent some time brushing and petting the little goats.  Joergen was enamored!

Liam's favorite part of the new children's zoo is the playground and tree house area.  He climbed up a big rope net and slid down a giant slide back to the bottom.  There was a big line for that slide, but it was worth it!

Desiree couldn't wait to see her favorite animal, so after an outdoor lunch by the fountains, we went straight to the giraffes.

Sosie and Desiree

Landon and Liam were like Frick and Frack that day, and loved their camel ride through the zoo!

It was great to see how well all the little ones got along!  I loved this one of Sosie, Liam, and Landon holding hands through the Big Cat exhibit.

Frick and Frack in the primate house:

The Primate House is definitely my favorite spot in the Zoo.  I could watch the monkeys and gorillas there for hours!  Joergen just giggles at their antics.  He kept waving to the gorillas to try to get them to wave back.

This family of monkeys was just the cutest thing-- they didn't even look real!

Before we left, Liam and Joergen each threw a penny in the fountain and made a wish.  Liam spilled the beans on his wish: "Mommy, I wished I was 18!"  Heaven help me!

After we said goodbye to the zoo and to our friends, we weren't in the car for more than 10 minutes when I looked in my rearview mirror and noticed this little scene:

Liam napping?  Now that is an endangered breed!  It was a happily exhausting day with good friends and lots of fun.