Day 42

We tried to get going pretty early this day as we wanted to head up to the Columbus Zoo and water park.  After a quick breakfast we were on the road a little later than expected but looking at a beautiful day ahead of us!

The zoo was beautiful and set up almost like a lush, disney-like property with animals tucked away in a natural habitat they seemed to enjoy. There were a bunch of extra opportunities for us to do, but we just walked around to the main animals the kids were interested in seeing.  Goats and groundhogs and ferrts, oh my!

I think this ferret might be the 127th animal that Ryan wanted to bring home with us.  He was extraordinarily sweet as he was just waking up from his afternoon nap.

The kids finally got to see just how big an adult moose is.  They couldn't believe it!  The live moose was lying down nearby but we couldn't really see him that well.  They did have a juvenile that looked so precious with his giant head wobbling around with lanky, awkward legs.

They decided they never wanted to meet a polar bear either!

You know me, always up for sneaking in some learning!

And drama!

By around 2 we hit the water park and had a blast. We threw all the valuables and extras in a locker and hit the slides.  We thought better than bringing the camera or video camera so you'll just have to use your imagination.

We split up with the kids to do the lazy river, slides, wave pool and more slides. The only part we did mostly all together was the dolphin race slide. What looked like a gentle slide with a few humps in it was a scream-inducing head-first ride down a water slide that Dave actually got air on!

We were set to meet another friend of Dave's for dinner, so after a few hours we grabbed our towels and set off for the gift shop. Being at a zoo we knew the kids would probably have to have stuffed animals and we were right!  Brayden ended up with an artic fox, Laney with a sea turtle, and Ryan with a macaw.  Looks like we were going to create our own stuffed animal wall art exhibit at home!

We made a quick stop at a soccer store for Brayden and Ryan to check out shirts and left for Kingy's Pizza Pub for dinner with Jennifer. Brayden enjoyed telling her all about the sports he plays and what we'd done that day.  Dave and Jennifer caught up on all the people they'd been friends with in school and the kids zoned out watching soccer.  It was fun to listen to Jennifer's family road trip adventures and make a mental note of places we could add to our list someday.

Our original plan for the night was to make it home relatively early for showers, email checks and reading, but by the time we got home it was already 9pm.  We did everything at double speed and all fell asleep in minutes. A day in the sun will do that to you!