Louisville Zoo

Now that Justin has officially started his Assistant Principal duties, he got to attend the KASA (Kentucky Association of School Administrators) convention in Louisville.  We got to tag along for the fun, staying at one my very favorite hotels ever....the Galthouse.  When I was in Jr. High and High School, our BETA Conventions were always held at the Galthouse so I have tons of fun memories from there.  Plus, it's just a cool, historic hotel.

Somehow we even got upgraded to a fancy, two-room suite on the top floor of the hotel.  While Justin was in his meetings, the kids and I swam, explored the hotel, and had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe.

Once his meeting was officially over, we stopped by the Louisville Zoo on our way out of town.  Why we picked one of the hottest days of the summer to visit the zoo, is beyond me.  Even most of the animals had better sense than to get out in the hot sun and stayed put in the shade or under water.

We are equally as close to the Louisville Zoo as we are to the Nashville Zoo.  The Louisville Zoo has much more open concrete area, while the Nashville Zoo is much more shaded.  Both are great zoos, but on really hot days like today, the Nashville Zoo would provide more shade.  But we weren't in Nashville now were we?  So the Louisville Zoo it was!

Yes, the animals such as the seals and polar bears had the right idea: stay underwater.  It's amazing to me to see just how massive these animals really are.  I really could sit and watch them in action for hours.

The polar bear was the most fascinating to us because it played with a log in the water for the longest time.  It would try to climb on top of it and just roll around and around with it.  When you would see that huge bear come up and then dive deep down in the water, it was just amazing to watch.

The gorilla exhibit was really cool, too.  The gorillas weren't super active on this day...guess they sensed the heat, even from their indoor home. But it was interesting to watch them snack on their cabbage leaves and other roughage.  Every now and then one gorilla would stare down Canaan, who would just laugh at the shenanigans.

I love and loathe Canaan's new "cheesy" smile for the camera.  It's terrible but oh so cute at the same time.....well to mama it's oh so cute, right?

When we had taken all we could of the scorching heat, we opted for snow cones on our way out of the zoo.  It was nice to sit for a few minutes and have a cold treat.  Even though we took in the zoo on a super hot day, we had a great time finding out interesting facts about so many animals and watching them play and interact with nature.  Thankful for experiences with my family, whatever the temperature may be!