Winter Wildland

Once again I am behind on the blog. On Sunday night the four of us and Heather went to the zoo to see all the Christmas lights. Its gorgeous seeing all their lights and then the city lights from Cheyenne Mountain. The boys of course just love going to the zoo any chance they can get.

We feed the giraffes inside, which made them so close to us. Carter even got a little nervous. Then we headed out to see the other animals. When we got to the Mountain Lions, Santa Claus had just left them with a treat so they were awake, running and climbing and eating their snack. After watching the lions for a little bit (Justin and Heather would have loved to watch more) we ran to catch up with Santa. A nice surprise was that we found out Santa is a Christian! He asked the boys why he only brings three gifts (of course they don't really even get that Santa brings gifts) and then told them because it represents the Three Wise Men and the gifts they gave Jesus. Any more than three gifts and they are from someone else. It was nice to tie in this experience to why we really celebrate the holiday.

We found out that Santa would be feeding the hippos at 8:15, and we knew the boys would love that, so we decided to stay a little longer, have some hot cocoa,ride the carousel (which Carter giggles the whole way thru and waved to everyone) and then go see the hippos. We got there early, but it was great because we got to see the hippos eat a bunch of hay and then get into the water and play. They were playing with a ball and would shoot it up high in the air. Tyler got scared at this point and wanted to leave. It turns out he was nervous from everyone around yelling in excitement about the hippos. He was fine again after a few minutes. While waiting the boys also got to pet a snake and see Santa's reindeer.

Then Santa finally came. They first gave the hippos some bread that was cut into the shapes of trees and stockings. Then Santa brought out two cantaloupes. He put a whole cantaloupe into the hippos mouth and they just ate it right up - very cool! After talking to Santa some more we then took a ride up the Mountaineer ride, which is a ski lift to the top of the mountain. We saw great views and then met Mrs Claus at the top and colored some pictures for the animals. We then rode back down, got in the car and the boys were asleep within two minutes. It was a great night and the boys are still talking about it.