ZOO

Mandy invited us to join her at the Denver Zoo last week. She had some guest passes that she got with her membership, so we ended up all getting in for FREE, which was super nice! The weather was perfect and the kids have so much fun together. 

Waiting out front for Auntie Mandy, Jack, and Nora the boys decided that they wanted to take a picture by every statue. 

After all grabbing maps, the boys decided we would head to the right first. 

Checking out the sleepy Black Bear. 

The Brown Bear was awake and active. 

Heath proclaimed the stinky Flamingos were his favorite. 

We always love this funny Monkey every time we come. He always gets up close and puts on a show. 

The Great Apes were so fun to watch. 

Then we headed over to the Lorakeet Adventure to feed some birds. Heath was the first to give it a GO. 

Despite Nolan's fascination with birds, like with most things, he was hesitant to feed them at first. So was Auntie Mandy. So they did it together! Then he was confident enough to do it on his own. 

Heath was the Bird Whisperer! He was able to get many Lorakeets to come down to eat. 

We always have to stop to JUMP! 

We had lunch while waiting for the Elephant Show to start. 

Billy was an amazing elephant and the boys got right up close. 

He went for a swim. 

And my BFF, Nora Grace, thought he was pretty cool too! (Sadly, this was the only pictures I got of her during the day! Thanks for sharing it Mandy!) 

Checking out the Seals swimming. 

These two cuties were on their best behavior! All the walking they did was good practice for Disney World they decided! Ha! 

Measuring ourselves against a Polar Bear. 

Checking out the Felines. 

Exploring a cave to find a Porcupine. 

The Giraffes were Nolan's fav. 

Auntie Mandy and Nora waited outside while I took the four boys into Tropical Discovery. Nolan was happy to find the Poison Dart Frogs! He did a research project on them just last month. 

Jack and Brooks loved the "fishies". 

He was making me take his picture by every tank. Silly boy. He's either SO into pictures or SO NOT into pictures. 

They LOVED seeing the crocodile too. 

After Tropical Discover, the Leensvaarts were ready to take off, but Nolan was set on seeing Bird World. His favorite. I tried everything I could to talk him out of it or to distract from it, but he really NEEDED to see the birds. Ha! For some reason, he is really intrigued by birds- I blame Opa's Bird Book, because to me, birds are a bit creepy. So we said our goodbyes and thank yous to Auntie Mandy, Jack, and Nora, and then we trekked back across the zoo to Bird World. 

I finally got Brooks to agree to ride in the stroller a bit, so it was actually quite manageable even though we had already walked for 4 hours. So we ended up taking our time and checking out a few more animals along the way. 

The Elephant Passage is so cool! 

A Selfie with my Monkey! 

The Hippo Statue is always a great spot to snap a pic! 

And we FINALLY made it to BIRD WORLD! 

We love watching the silly little Penguins. 

Nolan was excited!

After the birds we started making our way back out of the zoo. We had hit up every area possible! 

It was a great day and made me feel like I am really turning the corner in parenting. I now have 3 pretty self sufficient, manageable, children. I can take them to the zoo ALL DAY by myself and handle it. (Mandy and I did make a pretty good tag team though I must say!) Of course I miss the baby snuggles and cute little faces, but their independence is really nice! It opens the door to so much more freedom and fun! And I SO LOVED my day with my sweet boys and super fun friends!