Omaha Zoo

We did something fun this weekend! We invested in our family and bought a zoo membership! We're about an hour away from the Omaha Zoo and decided it was worth the $95 to get a year pass for our family. We're so glad we did!

The weather was just beautiful, so we enjoyed our first day that felt like spring in sweatshirts while walking around outside!

The first exhibit we saw was the IMAX.

Gary and I loved the documentary about the Canadian Railroad through the Rockies, but Josiah and Jared spent quite a bit of time with their ears and eyes covered! Poor guys. Jonathan liked it though. I think it was just how loud and big everything was. We're looking forward to seeing the Penguin and Africa movies at the IMAX theater in future visits.

After taking a quick look at our map, we decided to hit the exhibits on the bottom section and save the ones farther out for another time. That's the beauty of getting a pass! (Oh, the IMAX was covered in our pass too.)

We walked through the bear exhibit--there were black bears and a polar bear, but the sun was bright and they were on the other side of some glass windows which made pictures not look great.  I'm not sure any picture of this Sun Bear would be flattering, poor thing!

We also saw the large cats; jaguars, Siberian tigers, lions and lion cubs. But again, they were behind glass lit up by the sun, and we were inside a building, so no pictures!

Then we ate lunch. The plan was to bring sandwiches and "supplement" with something extra bought at the zoo. This area was the one complaint we had! They sold hot dogs, mini pizzas, and popcorn, and that's about it! The mini pizzas were $6! We shared a tub of popcorn and promised next time to pack more goodies from home!

 Next we walked through the gorilla house and the orangutan house.

The primates are always fun to watch! Some of them really were monkey-ing around (ha ha!), others were feeling the need to procreate. Yes, it's true. I'll spare you the details.

Our next stop was the aquarium. This was a big hit with the whole family! My only complaint was that it was crowded, but we enjoyed seeing everything from sharks to penguins to starfish to jellyfish!

Our last stop of the day was a large dome where desert animals lived. We saw wallabies, meerkats, and tapir, along with some birds and snakes.

After that, we called it a day. We're looking forward to our next trip to the zoo. We know there are giraffes, elephants, hippos, the butterfly house and an aviary left to see!

It was so nice to have a day off from babysitting and regular obligations and to be able to go do something fun with our family! Have you had any family outings lately?

I think I've documented a couple other trips to different zoos on this little family blog. It's definitely one of our favorite places to go with little kids!