Audubon Zoo

As I mentioned in my last few posts we traveled to New Orleans this past weekend.  We went to celebrate Valentine's but it was also an early birthday getaway for me.  After a somewhat restful nights sleep we got an early start Saturday morning.  David and Ben drove down the road to pick us up some breakfast.  Before they left David walked down to the lobby and brought me back a cup of Southern Pecan coffee.  Nice!  We had Burger King Croissant sandwiches for breakfast.  We spread a towel out on the floor and let the boys eat like a picnic while watching cartoons.  Television and meal time is something we never combine at home so it's a treat for them to get to do it when we travel.

 

breakfast in New Orleans- pretty fancy huh

 

One of my favorite childhood memories of trips to New Orleans is riding the trolley.  So you can imagine my excitement of getting to take my boys on their first trolley ride.  We didn't need to ride it to get to where we were going, but just wanted to ride it for pleasure only.  We parked our car close to the turn for the zoo and hopped on the St. Charles Street trolley.  We rode it for several stops and then got off and caught another trolley back.  It was just plain fun and I can't hardly go to New Orleans without riding it. 

New Orleans trolley

 

One of the boys favorite shows these days is Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  It is similar to the Mr. Roger's show.  Cruz was excited to think he was going to get to ride a trolley like Daniel.  Although he was a little disappointed that the trolley was not red.

getting ready to board

me and an excited Cruz

sweet brothers watching the world pass by

Blessed!

We then headed over to the Audubon Zoo.  We were trying to decide between the zoo and the aquarium so since the weather was nice we chose the outdoor activity.

After entering our first stop was at the Flamingo Cafe for lunch.  We sat right next to these beautiful flamingos and although they were great to look at the smell was a little much for me.  eek!

They had several booths set up with hands on activities.  Here is Cruz getting to learn about snakes and pet snake skin.  Each booth/ station had someone there to talk to the kids about the particular animals.

petting beaver fur- it was really soft

Ben rubbing the owl talons

Where to next???

As soon as Cruz spotted the carousel I knew we would have to ride it.  Of course he chose the tiger and little brother sat on the panda bear next to him.

my boy is crazy about tigers!

Sweet Ben is not smiling here but as soon as it started moving he was smiling big.  He really enjoyed it.

They had a whole section called Jaguar Jungle that was all things Mayan.  It made us feel like we were back in Guatemala.  After living in Guatemala for several years seeing things like this takes on a whole new meaning.  

They had a bucket of shovels for the kids to use to dig for Mayan treasure.  Back in Guatemala we can drive about 40 minutes over to Copan, Honduras and see real Mayan ruins and excavations taking place.  We have also visited several Mayan ruin spots in Guatemala.

 

It made me stop and think about all the Mayans in Guatemala and especially the ones we have worked with- the Kekchi and the Chorti. 

There were a couple of different play areas for the kids throughout the zoo.  This was by far Cruz's favorite.  He asked to go back to this particular area the rest of the day.

That smile says it all.

Several kids climbed this tree.

more playground fun

our little family at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, LA

We then headed back home.  It's only about a 2.5 hour drive so that is not bad at all.  And what trip would not end well without the little one's taking naps most all of the way back.  Ahhh... can't you just hear the silence, ha.