This weekend, my husband and I finally made good on a promise we made to our two-year-old son on his birthday (six months ago, good thing he has a short memory!) and took him to the Indianapolis Zoo over the weekend.  And since we were going to be out, we decided to make something of an event of it and invited my best friend and her family (husband and two boys, ages five and eight months) to join us. 

The weather cooperated beautifully, so we headed down just before noon on Saturday morning.  $32 got my family of three in the gates (and that was with a AAA discount) and we were off.  The new Oceans exhibit - well, new last summer - was our first stop.  This may have been my son's favorite part.  You can really get up-close to all the tanks and he loved that.  Bonus for the adults: this is an air conditioned building, so we certainly encouraged their exploration.  My toddler didn't really "get" the shark touch tank (he wanted to take a "baff"), but my friend's five year old was mystified...and a little scared.  The only disappointment here was the napping polar bear.  We were hoping to catch him doing some of his fancy flips and tricks through the glass viewing window, but I guess even a polar bear has to sleep sometime.  He was still so darn cute perched up on his rock, basking in the sunshine. 

My friend's five year old was obviously fired up to see the big cats: lions and tigers.  Evidently, it was the only thing he talked about leading up to the trip itself.  So, you can imagine this little boy's huge disappointment when we discovered that none of the big cats where on exhibit.  I'm not sure why - the signs simply said they were temporarily off exhibit (or something to that effect) - but it definitely put a damper on our day. 

That was the only low-light of the day, though.  Everything else was top-notch and the pleasant temperatures and sunny skies must have excited the animals, too, because many of them were as active as I've ever seen during a visit.  The monkeys were politely playful, the rhinos were enjoying a mud bath and a couple of the elephants ventured into the pool for a quick dip.  Such fun. 

Our little tyke had what we like to call a meltdown at home - right in front of the elephant exhibit.  So sorry for anyone that had to witness and divert their route because of his tantrum...what can I say, he's two, loves to get his way and can be unpredictable when he doesn't.  The only thing that saved the day: a trip inside the "big bird cage" - technically, the Australian Aviary - where he was was amongst free-flying lorikeets and beautiful rainbow-colored lories that he actually hand fed himself.  He thought that was pretty cool.

Overall, our trip to the Zoo was a resounding success.  The crowd on Saturday was substantial, though, so next time I think the trip deserves an afternoon off work!

Did you go to the Indianapolis Zoo this summer?  I'm listening, so tell me about it!

Looking for something fun to do this wekeend?  I'll be back later this week with another Indianpolis trip idea.  In the meantime, check out our online events calendar for literally hundreds of options!