Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Believe it or not, there are some great perks with your kid having cancer. One is the freebies. (Even though with the money we have spent on insurance, we could have done the zoo a thousand times over and paid to feed every animal there a Thanksgiving feast.) All over the country, on the same night, all the Zoos open their doors to children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. It was seriously so cool. There couldn't have been more than 2000 people there and everything was free. We did the carousals, had a free dinner, got the kids' faces painted, got to see all kinds of cool animals, chatted with some police men and went to the top of a SWAT van, and got some cool gifts. We traded Chelsea Preslee for Taeler. I was on my own for the first hour until Bryan got there and it's a really hilly zoo. Trying to get all three of my kids up those hills when none of them could really walk would have been a challenge. Plus, we were out late. (By Preslee's standards.)

Oddly enough, trying to keep up with this massive beast long enough to get a picture was a challenge... it's a turtle... shouldn't they be, oh, I don't know... slow?

A baby wallaby.
Taeler and Carter.... ROAR!
Addilyn touching a real bear claw.
The grizzly bear exhibit was so cool at this zoo. (It helped that there weren't a lot of people in it.) The bears played in the water up against the edge of the exhibit the entire time we were int here- 15 minutes or so. They were pushing off the glass wall, playing with each other, swimming, diving for trout.... it was seriously awesome. Best part of the zoo in my opinion.

Taeler and Carter... the perfect little couple- despite her Canada shirt. ;) Again... wedding album material, right here. Love these two. They are such great friends and she's so great for him right now. She's super laid back and content just hanging out. Because of his energy level he can't do too many little boy things like running around like a mad man and playing sports. (That part really sucks.)
Carter, our little grizzly bear. This is more hair than he's had for 3 1/2 months! :))

The gorilla exhibit was really cool too. It's so crazy how much like people they are. The silver-back they have in there is super loving to all the other gorillas. His had was the one that saved the little boy that fell in. He was right there when it all happened. (Apparently you can see him in the uTube video) They think it's because of his father's example that he is so sweet. Cute, huh?

We had a "feed the giraffes for free" card but by the time we got over there at the end of the evening, the giraffes had headed to bed. But they were very friendly and let the kids pet them while they snacked on their metal fencing. :)