Virginia Zoo!

Sarah has been asking for a few months to be able to see elephants.  well, since there are no zoos around us that currently have elephants, as soon as we found out that the Virginia zoo had them, we quickly added a zoo trip to our vacation!  (Which then made Chris get a fabulous idea that we should visit 50 zoos, one in each state!  So stay reading our blog to see all the zoos that visit over the next several years!)

Look who was at the entrance to the zoo!

Can you spot both monkeys?

I see another monkey!

Dave and Sarah getting an up-close view of the orangoutang.

A red panda taking a snooze in the tree.

The world's largest crane.

And the giant pigs were napping on the this hot day.

Black bears.

The tiger was cooling off in his pool!

Zebras.

We spotted this little guy trying to hide.

Mom and baby giraffe.  This little giraffe is only about a month tall.  His great grandfather is the world's largest giraffe.  The zoo keeper told us that they believe this baby will be giving his great grandfather a run for his money, he was born taller then a typical giraffe!

And the main reason for coming to the zoo, ELEPHANTS!

We got to watch him try to cool off with a dust bath.

"ELEPHANTS!!"

Enjoying some hay.

Dave checking out a large lizard.

Meer-cat.

Parie dogs.

A monkey family.

Ant eater.

And cows!  

On our drive back to the hotel we were rather close to the Virginia Navel Base, so we were able to see a few big Navy ships.

And the kids had a grand time going through this rather large tunnel.

When we got back to the hotel we thought we would check out hte gift shops in the hotel.  This was the way they walked to and from the water park each night.

We got meet one of the Great Wolf Lodge characters.  (Sarah wanted nothing to do with getting her picture taken with this nice wolf.)

And if you recall we had spotted a lizard at Busch Gardens yesterday, WELL....See this little lizards above!  We were all meeting up in our room to head to the water park.  Next thing we know Big Dave is chasing something in our hotel room.  He was after this lizard!  He must have snuck in our room from our porch at some point.  Thanks Dave for catching this guy for us.....it would have been something to find him in our bed!

Sleeping Beauty!

It's 10:30 Am, the rest of the family is showered, dressed and has eaten breakfast.  We are ready to go the zoo to see the elephants, but Sarah is still sleeping!  I guess that is what happens when you allow your 2 year old to stay up way past her bedtime to play in the water park!  But, hey that is what vacation is all about, creating memories that will last a lifetime!

Busch Gardens!

Today, we were off to Busch Gardens!

 Almost there!

Arriving at Busch Gardens.

 Dave getting his height checked and getting his height wrist band, so he would know what rides he can go on.

 A turtle!

 A few scenes from the park.

 We got to learn about this Western European Owl.  He's only 2 years old.

 We were lucky enough to get to see the Grey Wolf in the water!

 And of course we can always find a turtle!

 Sarah getting on her first ride, the carousel!

 The boys, Ashley and Dave were happy to go along with Sarah!

 She loved every second of it!

 Sarah loving the boat ride!

 She's a very serious boat rider.

 The boys and Sue checking out the front of the boat.

 After our boat ride we went on a train ride around the park!

 A few more sites from the park.  There were butterflies everywhere!

 And we spotted this lizard!  (Little did we know that we would be seeing one later on in our stay!)

 Dave, Ryan, Dave and Myself on the log flume!  This was Dave's favorite ride!

 After our, I think our 4 ride on the swings the boys thought it would be fun to go for an airplane ride.

 Me and all the kids on the teacups!  Sarah enjoyed this ride till the boys started to spin it a bit too much, which she promptly told them to "STOP BOYS! STOP!"

 After a great day at Busch Gardens we grabbed dinner and then took a few pictures outside of the Great Wolf Lodge before heading into the water park to cool off!