Our Cincinnati Vacation: The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens

I love the Cincinnati Zoo -it is so amazing! We ended up having a rainy day during our trip but decided that we would still go to the zoo. We ended up being so glad we went - yes it rained but this zoo has so many trees and plants that we didn't get soaked! It was so fun!

The Zoo had tons of animals and so many we had never seen like the manatees, the Sumatra Rhinos, and the sea eagle! We fed the lorikeets and that was a lot of fun too! Marin would get so excited when she saw the animals - she was so loud! I think one of my favorite parts was the crazy loud monkeys that sounded just like Marin with the ohhh-ahhh - they were quite a bit louder but sounded like her! Hattie's favorite animal was the baby monkey with its mother - it was terribly cute! Marin seemed to like all of them - she would get so excited when she saw anything!! One of the other parts that was so funny was this crazy polar bear who was totally playing for the crowd! We laughed at that one - he would come up to the glass, swoop up, and push off and then circle round again. He was quite the entertainer!


After the zoo we went back to our hotel and tried to get Marin to nap - no real luck until right as we were getting ready to leave! After a rest time for all of us - Hattie was bummed because the Disney Channel was not working but we could hear that it was Hannah Montana on! We went and wandered around Ikea so Hattie could play in the play area. We headed downtown to the River front again this time to Fountain Square. Fountain Square is a beautiful fountain a a Graeter's ice cream which makes it a great place to hang out with kids - especially our kids! We loved the ice cream and the girls loved getting wet in the fountain!! Marin was soaked from splashing in the water but it was fun!! We crashed late that night after a great day!

We got up and went swimming in the pool again - it was so warm! Hattie and I practiced cannonball dives and regular dives - she is getting to be a great swimmer! By the time we arrived home yesterday (Thurs) we were whipped. Last night, Marin put up quite the fuss going to bed - it was almost funny cause we knew she had been spoiled with sleeping all together at the hotel. The rest of us were happy to be in our own beds! It was a great vacation!!!