Woodland Park Zoo 2014

We have a little family tradition of going to the zoo every Memorial Day. I am not really sure how or why it started, but for the past 4 or 5 years we have done it. I love the zoo. It is the best outing with the kids, and its always a blast. We had a zoo pass two summers ago and it was the best! After I had Kaisa, it just got too chaotic to try and wrangle three kids to the zoo that often and still maintain any schedule or sanity. But we still held up our tradition for Memorial Day, and this time Heidi (Shad's sister) and family accompanied us. We absolutely LOVE having them so close. And our kids adore their older cousins! 

This year we did Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. We usually frequent Point Definace in Tacoma, because its closer with less traffic. But it was fantastic to visit this other zoo, plus its HUGE! 

Here are some highlights from our visit. 

Kaisa all ready to go in her perfect zoo outfit. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE having a girl!? :) Who knew!? 

The boys pointing out some penguins. The weather was predicting rain, so I was fully prepared with rain boots, coats, hats, and jackets. Which is why these kids look so bundled up! But luckily for us, it ended up being the PERFECT day out! 

The cute cousins. These girls are amazing. 

Kaisa is always good for some great, silly faces! Love her! 

All the cousins! I have a picture in this same spot, next to these lions, when I was little. 

Owen knew that my favorite is the giraffes. So he was determined to see that ASAP and FIRST. He was not happy seeing anything else until we got to those giraffes. They were a little disappointing. They were eating and far away. Boo. 

After the giraffes Owen had to map out our next adventure! He loved looking at the map and seeing where we were and where to go next. Uncle Steven was a great mapping companion! 

 More Kaisa faces with Aunt Heidi and cousin Julia! 

Nathan stuck next to Victoria the ENTIRE time! Best buds, those two. He loved all the animals. He was probably the most into actually seeing the animals. 

 Oh this girl! Can't get enough! 

 The Woodland Park Zoo seriously has the BEST gorilla display. They are normally not my absolute favorite. Buuut, at the this zoo they are! I can watch them all day long. 

And... so could the boys!

One of our last stops was the bears. It was one of the few stops Owen really wanted to see and one he mapped out carefully. 

Love these beauties! 

Another successful zoo outing! Until next Memorial Day!