The Toledo Zoo

For Mother's Day Samantha and I met my Mom at the Toledo Zoo for the weekend to see the hippo's. The Toledo Zoo is the only one nearby that has hippos. On the way to the hippoquarium we paused to see some of the other animals. This guy is a sloth bear. He had this long, floppy fur and he was quite charming. But, he did make Samantha mad. She tried so hard to take his picture. He would go up to the glass in the viewing area but by the time Samantha got there he would walk away toward the fence. By the time she got to the fence he'd go back to the glass. It would have been funny if it hadn't made her so upset. We told her to wait in one place but she wouldn't and kept going back and forth trying to get that sloth bear's picture.

Here is Mom and Samantha immediately after the sloth bear incident. Note the sad face...

...And me with Samantha after the sloth bear incident. I was gritting my teeth and explaining that you can't control what an animal does and that she needed to get over it.

The gates to the Hippoquarium!

Mom and Samantha about to enter the Hippoquarium!

HIPPOS! HIPPY HIPPOS! HIPPIDY DIPPITY HIPPOS!

They were so amazing!

Kissing hippos...

They were actually graceful when they were swimming...

And they looked like they were smiling...

And like they loved each other... just hanging out in the water... sunning themselves...

Coming up for air every so often...

And pooping... every so often...

They got right up against the glass and it was so cool to be right next to them and see how big they are...

Hippo butts are cute too... But we had to move on and see some of the other animals...

These vultures were having breakfast...

Yummy!

The one went over and decided his friend's carcase looked better so he took it away from her... Surprisingly she didn't seem to mind...

Oh look, a baby Monarch butterfly!

Samantha had to stop to say hello to some ducks...

Mom and Samantha on an elephant...

And still hamming it up on the elephant...

He was interesting... but we all know how I feel about birds!

Oh! Look how CLOSE I am to that BIRD! It only lasted a second before it dive bombed my head, I freaked out and Samantha had to come and rescue me.

Stupid bird thought it was funny...

These guys were really pretty and they stayed in their tree where they belong...

Samantha got a stuffed hippo that she named Howard...

And she got some charms for her shoes...

Samantha really enjoyed the pool at the hotel...

She got to swim several times and almost turned into a fish...

Finally I go her to come out...

Mom got some beautiful lilies to make the hotel room feel like home and she gave them to us to take home...

And, here we are getting ready to head for home but not before having a Mother's Day breakfast...

It was a perfect Mother's Day...