Our other favorite place: The Zoo

We LOVE the Cincinnati Zoo.

June 2019

It did receive a lot of bad media a few years ago when Harambe was killed (fun fact: we were at the zoo the day before and had attended the Gorilla chat. Harambe was out with his troop and they told us that he liked to flirt with one of the zoo keepers and would show off for her whenever she was there to feed them). But whatever side of that fence you sit on, you have to admit that it also does a lot of good conservational work.

When we first moved to Cincinnati, there were newborn cheetah cubs at the nursery. The Wildlife Safari in Oregon had also sent their cheetah cub to the Cincinnati zoo. So as proud Oregonians, it felt special to us to go and visit the cheetahs.

I do hear about friends with older kids who don't like going to the zoo. Which, I get. Now that you've reached your teenage years you're too cool or whatever but at the zoo, there is so much to see and do that you can mix things up and it's a different experience each time.

I do have a two rules about going to the zoo:

1) NEVER go on a weekend or a holiday - this also applies to everywhere else.
- my reason: it is so crowded. And it's not the zoo's fault, it's anywhere you go. So we mostly stay home on the weekends. Sometimes this means that we go after school and only get an hour there but that's ok. Which I know doesn't work for everyone but: I hate managing my kids when there are large crowds, I feel like my kids get more out of the experience if they don't have to share it with 3,489,834,234 other kids, and we never have to wait in lines.

2) Do not make it an all day activity - three hours, tops.
- this is just enough time to ride the train, the carousel, go to an animal encounter, and visit a few animal exhibits. If you spend too long at the zoo kids get tired (it's a lot of uphill walking, especially on hot days) and then they hate the experience.

Hulk with the Lioness Oct 2015

Little Viking Girl with the lions
April 2019

Along with baby cheetahs, when we first moved here there were lion cubs. For awhile, Hulk's favorite animal was the lion (then it was the elephant, cheetah, the bald eagle, and now we are back to large cats with the tiger). The male lion he named Joseph and he would call it the "Joseph Lion" whenever he saw it #crazykid (I'm sure the zoo has given it a name but I don't know what it is). Fun fact: one of the Lion is actually named John.

Baby Fiona's bum and mom (Bibi)
April 2019

The zoo always seems to be changing, they're constantly redoing exhibits or adding new ones. The gorilla exhibit has been redone and an indoor enclosure built #ripharambe They've built, received, and successfully bred hippos since we've moved here. Side note: Honestly, I'm not sure why Fiona receives so much attention. The tiger cubs, rhino baby, and baby giraffes are all much cuter and just as important. Currently the zoo is building something they're calling "Roo Valley". I'm not entirely sure what all this entails but I am excited to see the finished product. The name makes me think that they'll be acquiring Kangaroos (the zoo does not have any). I do know that the purpose of the project is to give the current animals more room to roam (which is always good for wild animals).

June 2018

Watching an elephant be bathed
April 2018

If you buy a membership (I recommend getting one with unlimited carousel and train rides) you can also get into the zoo an hour early during certain times of the year. This early admittance is great for several reasons: you get to see animal chats like the elephant bath, less people, cooler weather, the flamingos being taken for a morning walk, and no lines for the rides (I'm all about not waisting my life waiting in lines).

There are three animal encounters:

Blakely's Barnyard Bonanza takes place in a small area near the children's petting zoo and it is geared towards elementary aged kids. It's maybe twenty minutes long and is the same program every time. There are a variety of animals that have been taught to perform to certain cues (a pig that plays bowling ball, a jumping goat, and a moon-walking skunk). These skills demonstrate natural behaviors that would help the animal survive in the wild. It's neat for the kids because they get to see animals doing some crazy things (did I mention the moon-walking skunk?) and they even get to go up and help but as an adult - you've seen it once and you're good.

Post Cheetah Encounter
June 2018

The Wings of Wonder is about half an hour and is only performed in the spring and summer. It is held in a large outdoor auditorium and, as the name suggests, is focused on birds (which also explains the seasonal limitations). It. Is. Hilarious. The main bird handler calls himself Bob (I have no idea if that's his real name a nom de plume) but he's a comic. The show changes every year and on days that have multiple showings they don't do the exact same show twice. We love it because it's hilarious (even for adults) and the birds are LITERALLY FLYING OVER YOUR HEAD. I always try to get the kids to sit near the edge and towards the back because that's where they release the birds from.

The Cheetah Encounter is about half an hour long and at the end of the presentation the handlers have two cheetahs run (not at the same time) after a lure. Aside from the cheetahs running at the end encounter changes every year (and will sometimes add new animals). This last year the cheetah cubs that we saw in the nursery are now old enough to perform so it was neat to see them all grown up and chasing dog toys. You know, like wild cheetahs do. The first part of the presentation the handlers bring out several different wild cats, a porcupine, and a hog to demonstrate behaviors that would help them survive in the wild. There's always a conservation theme and the handlers will have kids come up to compete against the animal. But the cool part is always watching the cheetahs run. Obviously.

June 2019

June 2019 

I have mentioned a few times that there's a carousel and a train. Both kids love the carousel (Little Viking Girl will cry when I tell her it's time to get off). They also both love the train (because they're obsessed with trains) but honestly, it's nothing special. It's a five minute ride around the center of the zoo and aside from the wolf exhibit, you aren't able to get any good views of the animals. The train does go over the pond but the pond STINKS. Literally. As most man-made bodies of water do when over burdened with water fowl.

June 2018

I also mentioned that there is a petting zoo, it has your standard goats but there's also rabbits and I think a few other animals. That's the section of the zoo I have the least interest in so we don't spend a lot of time there. In a different part of the zoo in the early afternoon they let you pet the Galapagos turtles.

At this point I could over load the blog post with the millions of pictures I have of my kids with each of the animals. But I wont. #yourewelcome How much you like the different exhibits I think will depend on personal interest in the animal. The nocturnal animal exhibits are neat in that they're inside and it's kept dark so that the animals are active (I like to think that at night they turn the lights on to help keep their circadian rhythms in check and that they're allowed outside regularly but I have no idea).

June 2019

My sister is obsessed with Okapi, so if we visit and it is out I take a picture for her to make her jealous. A few years ago there was a baby but it has grown and been sent to a different zoo. A few years ago they traded their female Polar Bear with a female from a different zoo to try and bred it with their male. They've been hoping for babies but the female doesn't want anything to do with their male. Watcha gonna do?

There are seasonal activities. In October there is trick-or-treating at the zoo and in November and December is the big zoo lights display. It's incredible. It's beautiful, there are a lot of lights, loud music, the fountain over the pond is choreographed to the music, and it's fun. I don't have any pictures because I am the world's worst photographer and having to take pictures at night with a bunch of tree lights is just not going to happen with my limited skills and my camera (aka my phone).
We have two traditions when it comes to the zoo:
1) Go on Hulk's birthday and get him a blue ice cream cone (because we're weird)
2) Go see the zoo lights right before Christmas (because they're awesome)

The zoo is labeled the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden and I have spent ALL of this post talking about the zoo portion. The Botanical Garden part of the zoo is something that's just kind of there. It's integrated into the scenery and not some special section of the zoo that you go visit. For that reason it can be easy to miss because you are so caught up in "we need to go here, and then here, and now someone wants to go back over there..." But it really is beautiful in the spring when all of the flowers are in bloom. I try to stop every when we pass an interactive display and have the kids smell the flowers and talk about the different types but Hulk is 6 and Little Viking Girl isn't even two yet so I'm fighting a losing battle that needs to be postponed until they're older.

April 2019