Wild Wednesday at the Zoo

In mid November Heather told me about Hogle Zoo's Wild Wednesdays deal where admission to the zoo is free for everyone on Wednesdays for the rest of the year.  Sweet!  We planned to meet up there on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving since Callie would be out of school, but unfortunately the weather had other plans for us, since we got dumped on with snow that day.  So we rescheduled and ended up meeting up with her and Grace and Shelly, Evelyn, Bradley and Magnolia (and their friends) on Wednesday, December 11th.  I busted Cal out of school a couple hours early (it was an early out day anyway, so I got her at lunchtime and she didn't miss too much) and we ate our sandwiches in the car while we drove to Salt Lake.  

I thought the crowds at the zoo would be crazy, but I didn't feel like there were too many people there at all.  And the weather worked out great, too.  It was overcast and cool, but it definitely could have been colder!  And the animals were roaming around and quite active.  The train was closed for the season (bummer!) but we all rode the carousel (yes, even me!) and we even got to see a sea lion and seal training session/show.  They had some fun splashes and tricks for us.  We spent a good three or so hours together and then we headed back home in time for dinner with Gregg.  I'd spend an afternoon like that again, that's for sure!

Look at those cute cousins (and lions)!

More lion posing cousins.

Carousel time for this crew (Shelly's bunch hadn't arrived until
after we had our ride).

I can't remember their name and you can't even really see them
in this picture, but these were some of my favorite animals
of the day: some goat relative with spiraling horns.

Lion fountains were turned off for the winter, but
that didn't stop some lion fountain posing!

Checking out the sea lion tank.

And posing with the posing polar bear.

Group shot!  The kids of a friend of Shelly's, then Evy, Callie,
Sam and Grace.  (Bradley was off doing his own thing and Maggie
was sleeping in the stroller.)

This time Bradley decided to join the group by the grizzly.

Cute cuzzies on a log (while we waited for the
sea lion show to start).

Sea lion tricks!

Snack time!  (And we got to hear them make their sounds, too,
which was fun and loud.)

Last stop, gorilla house and measuring photo
op.