Zoo Atlanta

Last September a sweet friend of mine called and let me know that she had the Zoo DVD from the library and asked if we wanted to meet her up there and do a little hand off so that we could get free tix to the zoo for that weekend! I called Jeff who was in the area and even though he doesnt love the zoo and wasnt thrilled about the idea of going, he agreed to get the DVD from her so we could go for FREE! :-) I was grateful for him being a good sport!

We got our free passes when we turned it in at the library and decided to go that Saturday. Lainey was about 9 weeks old at the time and was in a wonder week so she was already NOT napping well. This is the balance we have to decide on with 3 kids now. Who's needs are greater? While the zoo is not a "need", the fact remained that if we did not go to the zoo, you could BANK on Lainey not taking a good nap anyways. So in this case I felt it wasnt really fair to the big kids to not take advantage of these fun free passes! So I grabbed the ergo360 and we went! :-)

We got off to a rough start, as pictured below. I just wanted a pic of the big kids but Mack, as usual, wasnt having it. He got in a better mood pretty quick but it wasnt looking too promising! HA!

The kids loved the elephants! We got there early so it was still cool out and the animals were all out and about which was really cool! I think we saw more animals that day than ever before!

The tiger was down in the bathing area just pacing back and forth RIGHT at the glass. It was so cool that he was up so close but also a liiiiiitle creepy that if the glass broke he could eat us for lunch! HA!

Mack was obsessed with holding the map and telling us which way to go (which obviously he didnt have a clue!). Cute though.

When we kind of abandon ship on the sleeping part of babywise, we always stick to the feeding schedule. This helps us to ensure that the baby has eaten enough calories in the day to help ensure better night time sleep :-) Win Win is what we call that! So I stopped around this monkey cage and let Lainey eat (and subsequently poop!) while the kids and jeff explored the reptile area and playground for a little while. Then we headed to see what is, in my opinion, the best part of Zoo Atlanta. The GORILLAS!

We took in the bird show that day, as well. That was our first time taking advantage of any of their shows and honestly, it was GREAT! The kids loved it and the birds were really awesome!

Then we headed to the picnic area and ate lunch! I was prettttty proud of myself for getting all 3 kids out of the house with everything we needed, including a packed lunch! So we didnt spend a PENNY on food!

And then we, of course, had to head to the petting zoo area! This is always fun!

And we decided as a last minute thing to treat the kids to the train ride. Um. Which is lame! I had no clue that the train ride was so SHORT! It was about 5 min and cost us more money than 5 min should. Boo.
But the kids obviously loved it so I guess i dont regret it, anyway ;-)

It was our first big outing as a family of 5! And Id definitely say it was a success! Lainey napped in her ergo at about the time she should have napped and both big kids had a great time! All for free! YAY!