Best day at the zoo EVER!!!!

So I have to be honest I was not super pumped to walk around the zoo in January, but we are members so I bundled up and decided to give it a try.  I always wanted to do this and today just seemed like the perfect time.

We started with the Butterfly house and this one had just hatched in the morning so it was letting its new wings dry before taking flight.  Bailey wasn't scared this time around.

For the first time I actually heard a lion's roar.  It was pretty cool.  Not a real loud roar, but a roar none the less.  All the animals were really active.

This cute little tree hugger is a red panda.  Brody kept saying "Hi panda"

This beautiful creature is my favorite.  The Siberian Tiger.  They usually lay around in the summer heat, but when you visit in January you get to see the two of them climbing all around the enclosure.  It was really fun to watch.  I am almost becoming a fan of the zoo.  They make the exhibit area much more humane then they were back when I was young.  I remember crying leaving the zoo because they had all the tigers in these cell like rooms with cold green cement floors behind thick glass.  but thanks to many renovations that took place in the early 80's I like the zoo much better now.

So this little guy was right up close to the fence. 

This is a snake neck turtle.  He had just snapped out of the water trying to grab that leaf. 

The polar bear for sure was loving the weather.  Just chillin in the snow.

Bailey and Brody have become fans of the prairie dogs.  This was the only little guy that would brave the chilled air.  It seems he was super tempted by the pretzel stick some one tossed in for him. 

The peacocks weren't walking around like a typical day in the summer, but they still looked so elegant perched on the fence.

This is another one of my favorites.  The wolverine.  No I am not a UofM fan, more of a Marvel comics fan than a Hugh Jackman one, but this creature is just amazing.  Crazy strong and terribly fierce.

So this little one arctic fox had a brown coat the last time we were here. 

The coolest thing about this scene was reading the plaque below.  This is the family foundation that I work for.  The Foundation didn't donate this habitat, but the founder, his wife and daughter did.  I work for some great people.

My head hurt just thinking about how damn heavy those things would be.

There were a couple of brother polar bears swimming around and man was it cool.  They were wrestling each other for quite a while giving all of us a great show. 

So I thought Brian was crazy when he suggested we take a trip to the zoo with it being 36 degrees out but even though it was a bit chilly a good time was had by all.