Ahhhhhh......so we went to the National Zoo yesterday. Had good weather (it was hot but no rain) can't complain. So we went to the zoo because Emma has been pretty bent since one of Peyton's three first grade field trips was the National Zoo (the other two were Mount Vernon and the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum) and she didn't get to go. She'll get to go this year but of course that's not good enough AND the Zoo is their last field trip of the year so it will be a while. It's great though and we were all excited to go. You can't beat DC, most everything is free and the National Zoo is one of those, it's part of the Smithsonian. I have to say yesterday was great compared to the field trip day because it was no where near as crowded and we weren't rushed for time so we saw EVERYTHING and got to stop and really do some fun stuff! My favorite was watching my two goofballs at the Cheethas. There was a bold yellow line painted on the ground followed by two staggered white squares, a big jump further two more with staggered squares and way way down the pathway another bold yellow line. This was to demonstrate a cheetah's stride and distance at top speed. From the one yellow line to the other would take a cheetah one second and the white squares it's stride. The kids tried the run several times and it of course took them longer than saying one! A very cool fun experiment I'm sure they will share at school since their mascot is....you guessed it the cheetah! These were their highlight photos...
This hippo is HUGE! They're looking for a new home for it though because of the new Elephant house and trails they're building.
Two of the many elephants
Peyton and Emma on the eagle
The flamingos...ahhh the memories of waking up in the morning to having our front lawn flamingo'd
One of our favorite birds in the birdhouse
Awesome iguana
Cute bird
Owl
We all liked the toucan
Posing with the panda
The best view we got of the panda unfortunately
These river otters were cute and frisky
Posing with the otters
Posing with the bear
The bear
One of the several cheethas
These are tamarin and they're endangered they have many of them at the National Zoo and they are very cool! This was a new baby they had this summer with it's Mom.
Lounging lemur
Lemur dining on watermelon
Another tamarin
Gorilla dining on the leftover bag that had popcorn in it earlier
Not interested in you at all!
This gator was cool and looked fake!
Komodo dragon
Komodo dragon close up
Crazy cool spiders and there is no barrier between you and them
LUNCH!
Octopus
Emma's thinking she's having stone crab this night.
Stone crab close up
Being groomed by the chimp
Another grooming
Who's smarter????
Baboons
Tiger
Lion
Prairie dog 
