Zoo trip with the cousins

We met Ray and Erin and Alex at the zoo today and had a great time. It rained all last night and the early part of the morning, but stopped before we got there and was just overcast the whole time we were there. I was afraid the animals would be laying low and taking cover from the rain, but it seemed like they must have gotten tired of laying low in the rain and were ready to come out and play. The animals were more active and full of energy than I have seen any animals at a zoo in a long time. It was a great treat for the kids.

Erin, Alex, Cooper, Peyton, and Karsten
Rob and Ray
This was the coolest part of the whole zoo trip. We had just finished looking at the lions, who were up and moving much more than usual, and had made our way to the rhinos, when we hear all this roaring. We quickly ran back to the lions and the male lion was standing right at the viewing window and was just roaring over and over and over. Erin got right in his face and he continued to roar a few more times. He was inches from the glass and she was inches from the glass. I have never seen anything like that before. What I love about this zoo is there are large open areas where you can look from a distance behind a fence to see the animals and there are these viewing windows that put you right up next to them. To think that we were just inches from this huge lion and it just wasn't laying there sleeping, it was roaring right in our faces. It was truly amazing to see. Peyton, just too exhausted to walk any farther...