Kings of the Zoo...

The next stop on our Kings of the Road 2013 tour was the Baton Rouge Zoo. We were all a little nervous because my mom remembered it as being not such a great place, but we were pleasantly surprised to see that it was AWESOME!!!

(It had been about 20 years since she had last visited). 

We were literally the first ones there because we wanted to beat the crowds and the heat. As we were deciding on our game plan I looked up to see that this kid had already made some friends and gotten his own recommendations on what we should do. About 27 questions in, we pulled him away and headed out. 

Not surprisingly, the tiger den at the Baton Rouge Zoo was incredible. They had Malaysian tigers (very small and pretty darn adorable) that were so playful. They acted like kittens and put on a great show for the kids. Then we ventured upon the Siberian tigers (what most people think of) and they were in the middle of bath time ... right up against the glass wall. The kids LOVED it and I have to admit I thought it was pretty cool to be "inches" away from my favorite mammal. 

BEWARE: LIVE ANIMALS!

(I did ask if I could take this cage home.)

;)

Louisiana is just gorgeous - tons of beautiful plants all over, so it was no surprise that the zoo was the same. We got to walk through the bird exhibit and were surrounded by all sorts of adorable little flying creatures and the zoo had great little educational stops set up for the kids to enjoy. 

I mainly enjoyed the "wild animals" that I brought with me. 

They have several spots dedicated to the Atchafalaya Basin which we drive "over" every trip to and from Baton Rouge. We had fun playing games and spotting animals that we see on our drive. The crocodiles were in the middle of bath time and the keepers were trying to get them to move - 10 minutes later they were still in place. Ha! The kids got to feed ducks, turtles and fish and they tried spotting "wild alligators". :)

As soon as they are old enough, we are going to have to do a swamp tour for real!

About the time we saw this big guy on the left, we noticed that there were a TON of zoo employees walking around with nets. Radley had no problem just asking what they were looking for and it turns out that a Bald Eagle had gotten loose. I had to hold back my laughter because they were walking around with basically butterfly nets. SMH. 

We let Miss L out of her "cage" for a while to play with the otters and she loved it. The squeals inside that room were loud enough to be heard across the zoo. 

I mean, really.

We got to see a 3 week old black and white Colobus monkey (turns out the zoo didn't even know Momma Monkey was expecting) and watch the exoctic birds "play".  

Poor Gigi had a broken toe but she kept up and was all smiles for the three hour walk!

We grabbed some lunch and then headed on our way out of the park. By this point, Landry was ti-red, so she helped herself to a nap while the bigs played. 

Last stop was ice cream and a train ride around the park for a "behind the scenes" look at the zoo. We all appreciated that little rest!

Our master plan was the exhaust the kids so we could all take naps back at MaMaws... ha! They power napped the 20 minutes back to her house and then were ready for more. We compromised on a movie for the bigs but L was happy to sleep for 2 more hours! 

We loaded up the car one more time and went to visit MaMaw... please pay close attention to everyone's facial expressions in these pictures. Landry was eventually booted from the pics. 

MaMaw is doing great at the rehab facility - she is walking with a walker and exercising every day. Hopefully we were able to add some cheer to her days and motivate her to use that leg!

Next up... JULY 4TH!!!