"Macheetah"

As promised here are the pictures from the St. Louis Zoo. As I mentioned before I was really impressed. It was a great zoo with lots of fun features and well put together displays and habitats. We had a great time. In the over two hours we were there we were able to see a lot of the animals but didn't 'hit' (as Emmuska put it afterwards) at least two whole sections, so we still have a lot to see when we go back. One of Emmuska's favorite animals (and most requested stops...) was the elephants. She couldn't stop talking about seeing them and started getting really excited when she saw big elephant foot prints in the path leading up to the habitat (a fun thing the zoo did was put impressions of the animal's whose habitat you were approaching into the path leading up to it. By the time we got to the elephant habitat Emmuska understood this little game and it made her even more excited when she got there. Of course it also led to one of the funniest moments of the whole day when I asked her what one set of prints was and she paused for a minute before telling me it they were 'macheetah' footprints...um okay...) She was not to be disappointed as they elephants were very close. One of them was eating the shrubbery right outside of their enclosure which was very close to the rope. It was really fun to be able to see them doing something (come on how active are elephants really? Especially in 94 degree weather...) made even better by the fact that they were so close.
This is outside the Insectorium which was insanely creepy. I should have figured it was going to be a very vivid display since they put so much work into the building (check out the massive ants climbing over the doors...) One of my least favorite (because of the 'I really didn't want to think about that' factor) but really impressive displays was the 'Not Home Alone' display. They had a kitchen set up where you could open cupboards and drawers and see favorite living places of insects within in your kitchen. (shudder) Just thinking about the 'Meal worm Munchies' (a box with a clear section so you could see the little white bugs mixed in with the cereal) makes my skin crawl all over again. (No picture - like I really need that on my laptop) Add to that the Brown Recluse in the odds-and-ends drawer, cockroaches in various places and other nasty creepy-crawlies all over the place and you have one unforgettable display.
Of course we had to have a group photo - while there were plenty of people at the zoo (it is a free attraction on a Saturday in the summertime...) it was amazingly hard to get anybody to snap a photo of us.
I love that the girls can't be bothered to look at the camera for ten seconds to take a family photo - there is just too much to see! The other must see animal for Emmuska was the penguins. This was actually her first choice animal. While the live penguins were not as much fun as the elephant there was a really fun rock covered in penguins. I let her climb up so she could take a picture with the penguins. How could any real bird actually beat that?

Here you have Mycal's feelings on viewing any of the number of primates we had a chance to get up close and personal with. (Okay maybe not so personal but a lot of the primates happened to be hanging out right next to the viewing windows when we saw them - most of them actually leaning against the glass...) While being able to so clearly see the orangutans and baboons was fun for the girls it was less than satisfactory for Mycal. (You also get a great sense for Liberty's incredible fashion sense...yes she did pick out her outfit...yes it is much brighter in person and the details you are missing in this photo are the dinosaurs on her hat and the Hello Kitty image in her dress...girl's got style!)

And finally we come to the best souvenir we didn't even have to buy. I don't think we could have paid for something more enjoyed, used and easily disposed of when it's time was done than the zoo map. Emmuska loved it - referring back to it after every animal we saw to make sure we were on track for the penguins (or elephants...whichever animal we were looking for at the time). When we were all done and back in the car she dutifully told us all the exhibits we 'hit' and which ones we would have to get next time. When we got out of the car - even though she was half asleep - she made sure she had her map and clung to it faithfully. I may never go into a zoo gift shop again!