DC: Day 2

I was so excited when my sister-in-law, Amy, mentioned the idea of going to the Washington, D.C. Zoo!  We've been to the DC area more times than I can count, but have never visited the zoo.  We lucked out on the weather during our visit!  In fact, it rained the day we arrived and the day we left and was beautiful every day in between!

So we loaded up all the kids, packed a picnic, and ventured downtown to check out the zoo.  After driving around for quite some time looking for a parking spot that could accommodate a mini-van, we made the trek to the entrance.

Jacob could hardly contain his excitement!

Baby Jacob trying to figure out which animal we should check out first.

It was such a beautiful day and I think everyone had the idea to visit the zoo.  By the time we got there, it was pretty much time for lunch.  It was so nice to be eating outside and the kids had a great space to run around after they were finished.

Andrew and Amy

The crew enjoying the grub.

My first being reintroduced to grass.

GG enjoying a little nap in the sun.

They have the coolest thing I have ever seen at the Zoo here for the orangutans.  High above your head as you walk through the zoo, there are platforms with ropes in between so the orangutans can swing and climb at their leisure.

At first, I just took a picture of the set-up, thinking it was unlikely we'd see the orangutans in action.

But how wrong I was!  One came out and went through the entire obstacle course.  I think I took about 40 pictures during his journey from one end to the other.  Unfortunately the pictures don't quite do it justice.  It was pretty incredible!

The other highlight of the visit for me was seeing a Panda Bear.  They are so incredibly rare and I've never seen one in real life.  

One was snoozing outside.

Here was my attempt to get Amelia in a picture with a Panda.  This little guy was sitting inside and was eating some sort of ice ring.

One last photo op on our way out--as you can see, Amelia was done!

Until we got back home that is!  Even though Amelia didn't take a nap on the way home, our quick stop for ice cream must have rejuvenated her.  Once back at the Banocy's, it was back to play time.

Dress up was a popular activity during our visit.

And Aunt Amy had lots of crafts to make--including Andrew's favorite of coloring the recycling!

And what would a trip to DC be without a cousin bathtime picture??