Indianapolis Zoo

We got up Friday morning and went to the Indianapolis Zoo before driving the rest of the way to Ohio that afternoon.  Tim, a family friend of Joel's, works at the zoo, so we were able to get some behind the scenes tours.  At one point, Tim was the elephant trainer at the zoo, but is now head over the African portion of the zoo, so we got to see a lot that most people don't get to see.

Ainsley was so excited about seeing the giraffes, and they were one of the first things we saw after walking in.  The kids even got to feed the giraffe, and Ainsley actually did it!

Tim helping Ainsley feed the giraffe

In true kid fashion, they wanted to look at the animal, and then see what was next!

Lily even liked looking at the animals, and would do her famous "point and 'ugh'" whenever she would spot one!

We finished walking through the monkeys, lions, and zebras with Tim and then he had to leave, and we were left to explore the rest of the zoo on our own.  It was so neat to be able to see some of the behind the scenes things, and get the VIP treatment at the zoo!

Everyone with Tim

We ate some lunch, and started looking for the snakes, which was Drake's request.  He also wanted to see the sharks, which quickly became one of Ainsley's requests, too!  They had a shallow pool where you could touch the sharks.  Ainsley wanted to touch one so bad, but none would come over to her.  Everyone else had touched them and left to go the next room, but Ainsley was still waiting for a shark.  I waited with her, and a shark finally came close enough for her to touch it, and the look and excitement on her face was priceless.  She beamed with "I DID IT" and jumped up and down.  She couldn't wait to tell everyone else that she touched a shark.

The zoo also had a dolphin show, which was the perfect time for Lily to take a quick cat nap.  I think everyone enjoyed the show.  Afterwards, we walked underneath where you could see the dolphins swimming all around you.  We tried getting a family picture under there, but Ainsley didn't want anything to do with it.  She just wanted her picture taken.  By herself!

The zoo had a carousel, and even a roller coaster!  Drake headed for the roller coaster, while Ainsley ran for the carousel.  I wasn't making the mistake two days in a row, so I let Papa Jim handle Ainsley on the carousel and I sat on the sidelines.  She was an angel for Papa Jim and didn't fight him at all!

We were all wore out and ready to get in the car to drive the 4 hours to our final destination in Ohio.  The girls were snoring in their car seats within minutes of leaving.  I'm pretty sure that meant they had a good day!