St. Louis Zoo

We live relatively close to St. Louis so it's a fun place to go for day trips.  Every year one grade from my daughter's school gets to spend the day there on a field trip and she was so excited that this year it was her turn.  We left at around 6:45 in the morning and came home around 8:30 that night so I think it's safe to say we had a full day!

I for some reason thought this trip always took place in the spring so we went ahead and went to the St. Louis Zoo over the summer.  I was worried they wouldn't be very interested in it since we had just been there a few months earlier but they had an absolute blast.  From now on we are only going in the fall, never the summer again.  We saw every single animal on full display because it was so cool that they tried to stay outside on the rare chance the sun came out.

The weather was in the mid-sixties but it was overcast and windy so I made sure we all had jackets with hoods on.  Good thing since it sprinkled on and off the whole time.  It never bothered us though since it kept the crowds down and we did so much walking that we stayed warm most of the time.

Goose's favorite animal is the red panda and we managed to catch it twice while it paced around below us.

Bug really wanted to see the zebras and the prairie dogs.  The prairie dog exhibit was empty but she did get to see several zebras.

Their daddy is obsessed with penguins and was disappointed he had to work so we took lots of pictures for him.  They were being absolute hams and swam around trying to splash anyone who got near them.  Bug loved it and I had to drag her out of there since it was freezing.

With the school armband we were able to ride the train all the way around the zoo, ride the carousal as many times as we wanted and have free admission to the Children's Zoo where the jellyfish and naked mole rats (two of my favorites!) live.

The school had to have the kids back at a certain time but since I drove separately we were able to stay longer and backtrack to see whatever we had missed.  They were in the middle of the Boo at the Zoo programs so there was quite a few Halloween scenes around the grounds.  I would have loved to see them all lit up but you have to pay to get into it and since I had already paid a giant bill for parking I didn't want to pay more.

*look at this adorable giant flytrap!*

After we left the zoo we drove up the street to the art museum, something they've been begging to visit for months now.  We didn't stay long enough to see much but they wanted to see the mummies and Van Gogh so we managed that and a few more.

Van Gogh is my favorite painter and I love seeing how much more beautiful his work is in person.  There are no words to describe how they make you feel.

Bug's favorite part was definitely the Egyptian section.  She's still telling people about the oldest statue in the museum.  This statue is over four thousand years old!

Seeing some of the most famous names in history makes me feel guilty that I only had about two hours to explore this huge museum.  One day we want to come back and spend the entire day roaming through all the halls.