St. Louis Zoo - Zander's 1st Visit

St. Louis, MO has an awesome zoo and we are within just a few minutes from there. When we were in Zhengzhou we visited a zoo and were very disappointed and he was not thrilled with it at all. We started off with the Children's Zoo, I though he'd like to pet the goats. NOPE, the goats just stood there, he stood there, they stared at one another and he turned around and wanted to leave. OK, on to the next part. He did laugh at the roosters though! Next was the Guinea pigs, the climbing tree house, the  meerkats, the pop up water spouts, etc. NO GO!

Finally I found THE thing he liked best! The corn dog! He wasn't quite sure what to do with it, he started laughing after his first bit and saw there was something inside and just like a typical guy, after it was all gone, he chewed on the stick (like a toothpick) for an hour. After the corn dog things perked up. The stingrays were a lot of fun, he loved sticking his hand in the water and as soon as one would get close, he'd giggle and pull his hand back.

1st Corn dog

Zander sporting his new 1st visit at the zoo hat.

Goat Petting.

Petting the Stingrays.

Love that smile.

The new sea lion exhibit was superb! Walking under the water and seeing the sea lions swim is so great. Zander didn't want to leave this area so we ended up here over 20 minutes with giggles of wonder and him trying to touch the sea lions through the glass. Next was the sea lion show, he was more interested in the big straw and the little kids behind us though UNTIL the sea lion came right beside him and started barking. Mr. Mimic barked until the show was over, he was given the frisbee the sea lion threw also.

The amazing new sea lion exhibit.

Water is so much better through a BIG straw.

Really close to the sea lion.

We ended the day with the traditional picture of the hippo. Every one of our kids and grandkids have had their picture taken inside this hippos mouth. The train wrapped up the day and lulled him into a trance. He was asleep before we left the parking lot! I haven't been at the zoo alone with one of our kids in over a decade and we will definitely be going alone over and over.

Traditional hippo shot.

Mama & Zander riding the train.