The Columbus Zoo, Hanna-versary

Back to our busy weekend... normally I wouldn't plan for us to go to the zoo and the science museum in the same weekend.  However, both were having special events going on, so we rolled with it.

It is Jack Hanna's 35th year at the Columbus Zoo, so they were having a fall fest and "35th Hanna-versary".  They had all sorts of special activities, characters dressed up, animals bobbing for apples and more.

As part of the celebration you could get $3.50 off (a normally $10) wrist band for rides and such.  We decided to go ahead and do it.  It's not something we will normally get on our visits, so it was a special treat.

So the first thing we did was go on a pony ride!

I think she liked it. :)

The petting zoo is right next to the pony ride so that is where we went.

She has little fear when it comes to animals.

We went on a train ride too!

The weather was perfect for a day at the zoo.   One thing I learned over the years is that the animals are more active in the cooler weather.

The bears were a little sleepy though.

The polar bears weren't swimming either. :(

After we finished North America, we stopped for a quick lunch and then headed to a show with Jack Hanna.  He came out 10 minutes before hand to give out autographs.  I thought that was nice.

He talked a little bit about his story and the history of the zoo.  It was all interesting enough, but Olivia was bored.  He also brought animals out and talked about them. That (and a snack) sort of kept her attention.

As we were leaving we had to walk in front of the stage.  He came out to hand out more autographs and we literally just ended up in line, which was pretty cool.

Next up was the aquarium

She is slightly obsessed with Finding Nemo, so this was heaven for her.  She saw "Nemo" and "Dory" and was so happy!

She asked to see a sea turtle next

and one swam right by her.

She said, "Hi Crush! (from Finding Nemo) and some kid next to us was like, "His name is Buddy?!" and pointed to the sign. Ha ha!  She just kept on calling him Crush.

We walked around and saw a few more animals before riding the carousel.

Shortly after her ride she fell asleep in the stroller!

We ended up at being at the zoo for 5 hours.  I wasn't too sad that she fell asleep because my hips were starting to ache.  The good thing is that we now have a membership, so we can go back and check out the animals whenever we want.