Huxley has been wanting to go to the zoo for awhile, so when he got up from his nap and requested a visit, Daddy and I thought it would be a great idea (we are always the renegades on Superbowl Sunday who have no desire to watch the game -we watch the commercials online and have you SEEN the Ferris Bueller one? I laughed so hard I cried.. :).
Anyway, at the entrance is Hux's favorite sculpture of seals (he also always wants to toss money in the fountain). Here's a few shots with the new camera showing off its features...
Next we saw the pelicans getting fed some yummy fish...
Probably the best part of the adventure was getting free face painting. Sundays in Jan & Feb there is a penguin parade, treats & face painting -we missed the parade and the treats, but were the very last face painting customer of the day (they closed at 4-we got there at 3:54). When Hux walked up to the lovely teenager doing the face painting and immediately requested a crocodile; even though it wasn't one of the choices, she did a free-hand crocodile in about 4 minutes. I thanked her profusely-it was awesome (it says YUM! on the left)!
Next we headed to the penguin display -no need to watch them on parade (we saw the evidence of the trail enough via the poop).
The bears were out so we got to see a few in action...
Then we headed to the Jungle of the Apes indoor exhibit, which we had never been to before-it was AWESOME! Chad had just finished watching Rise of the Planet of the Apes during Hux's nap, however, and I think was trying not to be too disturbed when touring the apes up close...
I love all the indoor hanging plants-really made it feel like a jungle!
This is a statue of the most beloved of the St. Louis apes, "Phil," who arrived in 1941 as a baby weighing in at 25 pounds and grew to theoretically 550+ pounds (the zoo speculates this weight was an exaggeration-but still!). He even had his own Life Magazine article and was known as a practical joker who would rip shirts off zookeepers. I might be a little more inclined to run then laugh if he did that to me, but hey-he was quite the popular fellow (read more about the animals here).
I don't know which picture is cuter-Daddy & Hux with Phil or Daddy and Hux as visitors to the Zoo in 1919...Chad has a lot more hair in the picture below though :)
We learned all about Phil -including seeing him-although stuffed rather than alive-and the history of the zoo (fascinating!) in the Peabody House of Zoo history. It took a great deal of time to get the zoo moved to Forest Park after the World's Fair of 1904 I guess (thus the zoo opening in 1919).
From the 1970's-a famous seal and Neptune sculpture-the would pop its head up at the touch of a button.
We moved on the Bird House-these beautiful old building are really well preserved!
Hux was a bit intimidated by all the birds, but had no fear of the huge metal bison...
...nor did he worry too much about the huge cats, but wanted Mama to read the signs to him.
Another beautiful old building-this was the 'ape house' -home to the smaller monkey species.
After touring quickly, a zookeeper gently told us they were closing for the day so we exited the building. Upon exiting-a red robin--surely a sign that we were headed to Red Robin for dinner!
At Red Robin, Hux the Crocodile sure was ready for french fries :)
Yum indeed! It was a great afternoon!
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