The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium: a quick trip summer 2014

I grew up attending the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, so I may be biased, but I love it there. Our family currently has a membership, so we use it to attend multiple times a year. We typically avoid the summer months, because it gets so hot and crowded. However, last week's weather was too gorgeous not to go see the new giraffes.

 The new exhibit was packed! They have an area where you can actually feed the giraffes, we decided not to wait through that line since we can go back later.

 The Africa exhibit which houses the new giraffes, is also home to these lions. This was the first I've seen of their new habitat, and I was blown away by how close they were to one of the windows.

 The Africa exhibit was so crowded, we decided not to stay long and quickly made our way to the North American area. This bald eagle was practically posing for everyone.

 Next we made our way through Asia and stopped to check out the elephants. Zeke's first visit to the zoo was to see the baby elephant 5 years ago, so it holds special memories for us.

 It was Claire's first visit to the zoo and she spent the first couple hours snuggled in the Ergo.

 She woke up for lunch and spent the last little bit riding in the stroller. Doesn't she look happy?

 Zeke had a great time with the map. It's so neat to see him studying and learning new things.

 It wouldn't be a trip to the zoo for our kids, if we didn't stop by the aquarium, so we stopped there and to visit a couple other favorites, Komodo Dragon and Aldabra Tortoise, before returning home.

What are your favorite zoo animals?