We took the kids to the Indianapolis Zoo for fall break.  It was amazing!  There really is no other word for it.  The whole family had an absolute blast. It was the first time visiting for everyone, except for Leslie, who went with some friends of ours last year. The zoo was clean and the animals looked to be well cared for. They stress the importance of conservation and explain how they are doing their part. So, what did we see while at the zoo?

When we first walked in, there was an area with sea lions and seals. They were very active and fun to watch swim around and play.

Of course the kids had to stop and peek through these ZooBoo signs.

Then as we continued on, we realized that the zoo was set up in different climates. The first area was the ocean. It was a mini aquarium. The kids liked the sharks and penguins.  They had a shark touch tank as well.  Leslie wasn’t going to leave it without touching one of the sharks first.  Then Leslie found the seahorse and of course had to get a picture. I also liked the penguins and Sean’s favorite was the sharks. We skipped past the dolphin section because we wanted to save them for last; to see the dolphins and then go to the dolphin show.

After we finished in the ocean we went to the desert climate. As you walked in, they had signs talking about desert survival and how the animals had adapted. Hailie almost immediately commented on how hot it was in there.

Hailie liked the turtles and Lorianna liked the lizards. Leslie and Kyle say their favorite part of the desert was the snakes. I enjoyed watching both the turtles and lizards.

Sean says the only part he didn’t like was the snakes.

We used this opportunity to talk to the kids about venomous and non venomous snakes and how to tell the difference visually by looking that their heads and eyes. Hailie wasn’t too happy with the snake walk either.

After the desert and snakes, we went to aviaries with different types of birds. The first aviary had smaller birds and the second had larger birds. I think the second one had some nectar eating birds as well. In both, the birds were bright and loud. They were very active and we enjoyed watching them.

After that, we saw the flamingos and there was an area for little kids to play so we stopped to enjoy the flamingos while Kyle and Leslie played for a few minutes.

Next we stopped to see the orangutan, Lorianna’s first “monkey thrill.” She loves monkeys and was looking forward to seeing them.

As we continued on, we came to the plains. There we saw wildebeest and giraffes, a cheetah and elephants among other animals. It wasn’t running when we were there, but there was a race a cheetah activity for the kids. There was a strip of lights that would “run” the speed of a cheetah and the kids could run as fast as they could to see if they could run faster than a cheetah.

Then of course there were more monkeys! Lorianna was ecstatic about getting to see all the monkeys.

After we got through the plains area, Hailie and Lorianna said that they were hungry, and even though we had brought food in the van, they insisted they had to eat there. So we stopped to get food for the kids. The food in the zoo, as you would expect, is very expensive. If you can, eat before going in.

When they were done eating there was another play area, this one for the older kids. So once again, we stopped to let them play for a while, did bathroom breaks and just relax for a while before continuing on.

Then there was another Zoo Boo sign they had to get pictures at.

After the lunch and play break we moved on to the forest area. In there, we saw tigers, red fox, a brown bear and yes more monkeys.

There was a zoo worker who was talking to one of the monkeys and he was “talking” back to her and before she left, she had him “singing.” Lorianna loved it so much, she didn’t want to leave the area. It took a while to convince her to move on.

After the forest, we took some time to look around the gift shop and let each of the kids get a souvenir before going onto the final and most waited for attraction, the dolphins. There was a dolphin dome, a glassed enclosure, that you walked into and could watch the dolphins underwater. Leslie walked in looked around, sat in the middle of the floor and just watched. She was entranced watching the dolphins, and I think she would have been perfectly happy making her home there.

As we were leaving the dolphin dome, there was a worker making a web for the birds in the aviary. She asked the kids to help her. She said they do things like this from time to time as a sensory activity for the birds.

Since we still had a couple hours before our scheduled time for the dolphin show, we used this time to just hang out, look around and the kids got to play once again.

While we were there, they were doing Halloween activities for the kids.

Then came the dolphin show. Leslie was so excited about this part, she was just bouncing around like a ping pong ball. There really are no words to describe her excitement.

I am so glad we were able to take the kids to the Indianapolis Zoo. It was an amazing experience and we now have memories of something that will last a lifetime. I love spending time with my family and seeing the excitement on the kids faces as they go along in life and hopefully are enriched by what they experience. Other than a couple falls, the trip went great and I hope we get to do it again soon.

If you are planning a trip to Indianapolis, you really should put the zoo on your list of things to do. It is a very worthwhile experience that kids and adults alike will love.

I asked the kids about their zoo experience.

Leslie: It was soooo fun!  We saw a lot of animals.  The desert was neat.  There was a decoration I wanted to take a picture of but it was too big so I had to take a video instead.  The dolphin show was amazing! I was disappointed because they didn’t call any kids to help out this time, like they did when I was there before. I definitely want to be a dolphin trainer when I grow up.

Hailie: I like so many of the animals, like the turtles, giraffe and cheetah.  I liked the dolphin show as well.  I think that maybe it might be interesting to work with the animals when I get older.

Kyle: I liked the tigers because they were in a cage and I liked the rhinos.  We were walking on a bridge to see them.  There was bears and snakes and one was active.  I’m happy that we went to the Indianapolis Zoo and we went to the dolphin show.