Cheyenne Mountain Zoo...

I decided to take the boys to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs over Labor Day weekend when Brent was biking in Steamboat Springs.  We all LOVED it!  It was worth the drive.

We fed the giraffes and were even able to pet them.  It actually looks like Gavin got a hold of the giraffe's ear in this shot.  Oops!  These animals have the longest, darkest tongues, and Gage wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole thing at the beginning.  He warmed up to 'em pretty quickly, though, as he does with most things, especially after he sees Big Bro's positive opinion of something.

There's this really cool exhibit where the wallabies roam freely, and I thought it was so neat that my boys got to see them up close.  They're sort of distant at the Denver Zoo, so I don't expect that they've ever gotten a real sense of the animals before we visited this zoo.

The kids were given some tokens for this totally tiny, rinky-dink train that went in a circle, and my boys acted like it was as cool as taking a real train ride.  I love that about them!  They remind me to keep my eye on the simple pleasures.  To offset the free train ride I splurged and bought us all some cotton candy.  It's always amazing to me that places can charge nearly illegal-seeming prices for stuff like that.  And if even this thrifty mom is giving in, they're making a fortune!

I love this picture!  They wanted to sit on this deer as we were getting ready to leave, right after having seen a wild one walking around the zoo.  I'm glad for our adventure that day.  They've talked about it many times since.