A bright yellow day

On Wednesday morning the kids and I got up early to head down to Columbia for a visit to Riverbanks Zoo and Nana and Pops.  I planned for us to get there as close to opening at 9am as I could.  Turns out I timed it just right arriving at 8:55, right before the gates opened.  Nana and Pops met up with us there to enjoy a beautiful morning at the zoo.  It really was nice outside and there was a nice yellow pollen coating on everything in site!  ;)  By the end of the day, I don't think there was one inch of the children that wasn't covered in the yellow stuff. 

On the Lion statues just inside the entrance to the zoo. 

Mary Mac was in a specially "posing" kind of mood that day.

On the playground at the zoo.

In the farm, the turkey was wandering around outside it's pen.  Andrew and Emma were a little unsure of this and tried to steer clear of him.  He liked showing off for them and puffing up and fanning out all his feathers.  Mary Mac had no problem with him and just walked right by him.  Emma wanted to know why he kept following us around the farm.

Once past the turkey, Emma was happy for me to put her down so she could try and keep up with her sister who was practically flying through the zoo from one animal to the next.

Checking out the baby giraffe

Isn't it cute!?  These were actually 2 young giraffe's, my mom and I commented to the kids that wasn't it sweet to see a brother and sister getting along so well.  Andrew remarked that maybe it was 2 brothers instead.  haha!

Stopping to pet one of the tortoises.

On the elephant statue.  It was hard to get a good shot because the sun was shining so brightly on the far side of the elephant that it had made the statue a little hot, and was burning poor Emma's little leg!  :(

Climbing on a big rock.

Mary Mac had the idea to share her sunglasses with the little gorilla statue.

Then of course, Andrew and Emma wanted to do the same. ;)

Mary Mac posing once again on another rock

Andrew and Emma following suit.

Pops and Andrew taking a break in the penquin house.

Enjoying some icees while observing the giant tortoises.

After seeing the giant tortoises the kids really wanted to go back to the playground before leaving the zoo, but my mom and I convinced them that we could go back to Nana and Pops house, get a picnic lunch, and then head over to their church playgound to play.  This sounded like a great idea to them since the church playgound is much bigger, and they would most likely have the place to themselves (which they did). 

When we were leaving the zoo, we realized how great it was that we got there at opening as the line to get tickets when we walked out was back to the parking lot, and the cars were lined up just to get off the interstate at the zoo exit.  It was going to be a very crowded day at Riverbanks!