Honolulu Zoo

Saturday, March 28th, we went to the Honolulu Zoo. We had driven by it several times because it's right across the street from the beach in Waikiki. My first impression of it was that it seemed a bit small but I knew Hannah and Sam would still enjoy it.

When we walked in I was blown away! It is so beautiful and peaceful! The entire zoo is adorned with native flowers and plants and the trees are just sooooo tall. I took a picture of Hannah and Sam under one of the giant trees to give an idea of the enormity of these things. There was a really nice breeze the whole time (being so close to the beach) and the trees provided a nice shade.

The zoo actually is on the small side but it's laid out really well with lots of winding paths. It took us almost 5 hours to go all the way through. There were a lot of exhibits where the only thing separating us from the animals was a moat (with or without water) so we were able to get pretty good views. The kids LOVED it! (So did the adults!) The animals seemed pretty happy, too. A lot of times when you go to the zoo they look so depressed just lying around or sleeping. Maybe we got there right after lunch because these were in what appeared to be a good mood. Almost every animal was up and about, swinging from trees, doing something.

They also had a small petting zoo there. They had goats, pigs, miniature horses, etc. That was probably Samuel's favorite part of the day. He kept wanting to feed the animals, though, and they had a very strict policy against that. I guess he wanted to because last weekend we went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation with my mom and dad when they visited (I'll be uploading more about that later). They had a little pond with Koi (or giant goldfish) in it and there was a little vending machine with fish food. Well, when Sam & Hannah threw the fish food in, those crazy fish went wild. Sam said, "They're so hungry," and Hannah said, "Yeah, they're starving." Anyway, I guess he thinks now that all fish need him to feed them because they're starving.

The last stop was the playscape. The zoo had a nice park-like area where a lot of people were picnicking and there were a couple of playscapes. Of course, the kids had a blast there.

We had such a nice time. I'm sure we'll be going back soon, maybe next time with our picnic baskets!

Aloha!