Hogle Zoo

We had a few errands to run in Salt Lake, so I decided we should make the trip worthwhile and go visit the zoo. The girls love animals, so any zoo or place with animals is an instant hit. Of course, the big wet spinning ball near the entrance was a hit.




Finally we headed over to see the animals. The monkeys were first. Fortunately they weren't as stinky as they usually are.


We went into this special area by the monkeys and got to see . . . hissing cockroaches from Madagascar or wherever. Thankfully they weren't moving. Ugh! It made me appreciate how wonderful it's been to not see any roaches since moving to Utah . . . LOVE it!!


We also got to see this animal from Madagascar called a Fousa, I think.



While in that area, I went to take a picture of Declan and decided to smile for me. Well, grimace is more what it looked like.


Then we got a cute face. He is a silly boy. It's amazing how quickly they learn.


The shell on this tortoise was awesome.


After that area we headed towards the elephants and rhinos. They had these real hides that we were able to touch. It was weird. They are definitely tough skinned animals.


When we got this view of the rhino, Tom just had to take a picture.



My girls LOVE these little statues and ended up arguing over whose turn to climb first. They were also arguing over who got to hold the map. They love holding the map although Shelby's the only one who can actually read it.


The giraffe enclosure actually let us go into the building where they feed the giraffe and then climb up to an upper level so we could look at them eye to eye. Everyone was supposed to be quiet. Thankfully my girls did a good job, but I was amazed at the number of parents who just let their kids run wild . . . and I mean wild.


While walking by the cheetah, it decided it wanted to check us out and followed us as we walked along.


Of course no trip is complete without seeing a tiger!


For this next part, I was outside with Declan while Tom took the girls in a building.


Now I'm grateful I stayed outside . . .



After seeing a few more animals, we headed back to the front for our train ride.


This elephant had too many kids on it when we were by it previously, and Taylor just HAD to climb on it now that it was empty (i.e. she threw a fit).


Finally we got to the train.




It was short ride with a lot of random things along the route, but the kids enjoyed it.








Finally, we were ready to go and get out of the heat.


We tried for a group picture out front, but it turns out it would have probably worked out better if we'd done that when we first got there. Oh well.


We had a fun day and are glad that Tom is home for a bit and able to go on these fun adventures with us.