Day Trip to Cincinnati

Very early on Monday morning the whole family drove to Cincinnati so Garrett could attend a conference for the Federalist Society and the kids and I could go to the amazing Cincinnati zoo. 

Garrett's conference centered on the Presidency and the Courts - how the Constitution should be interpreted and what criteria a President should use in selecting judges.  The speakers included Edwin Meese III (Former US Attorney General) and President George W. Bush. Here are some pictures:

Garrett with Edwin Meese III, who happens to be Molly's former boss.

President Bush speaking about the economy and the President's role in appointing judges.

President Bush mingling with powerful citizens of Ohio. Who's that handsome guy behind Kenneth Blackwell?

 If you want the play-by-play, it goes like this:

Bush: How are you doing today?

Garrett: I'm well, Mr. President. How are you?

Bush: I'm good. I just got off the ranch in Texas this morning, so I'm relaxed and I feel good.

Garrett: You look good.

Bush: Thank you.

It was an awesome experience for Garrett.  No matter how you feel about a particular President, it is a pretty amazing thing to meet one.  

So, while Garrett was hobnobbing with politicians, the kids and I were mingling with zoo animals. (Some might say we got the better end of that deal or that we essentially did the same thing:))  

The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden was the second zoo opened in all of the United States.  It was rated number 10 best zoo for children in the country and I definitely recommend it!  The living areas for the animals were set up so well and they had so much more space than the Cleveland zoo.  I think that is why the animals were way more exciting to watch because they had plenty of room to roam around.  They were very lively and got really close to us!  

The giraffes were the first stop and it was hard to pry the kids away because they kept coming right up to us.  You can feed the giraffes at this zoo but we didn't want to fork out the extra money since we had already had to pay 7 bucks for parking!

The next stop was the reptile house.  It was so cool!  There were alligators right in the middle of the room just looking at us as we walked around.  The room was full of huge snakes, lizards, and even a Gila monster.  There were some really weird looking creatures, but it was so cool because the snakes were actually moving around and not just sleeping in the corners.

This snake was totally charging Rylynn!  She was freaked out at first, but then she thought it was really cool.

The Botanical gardens are all throughout the park and they have butterflies all over the gardens.  Rylynn especially loved this since she is obsessed with butterflies.  It also helped that it was 81 degrees while we were there and a totally gorgeous day!

My favorite part was the gorillas.  There were five of them and they were all walking and climbing all over the place.  Their habitat had a huge waterfall in it and a river and caves.  They got so close to us.  One of them started walking along upright like a man and it looked really freaky.  They had lots of different kinds of monkeys which is one thing I really wish the Cleveland zoo had.  

All throughout the zoo there were these cool play areas for the kids with statues you could climb on and other fun things to get them out of the stroller and stretching their legs.

There were several different kinds of bears too, but my favorites were the polar bears.  There were four of them and they had a really cool habitat too.  This one is taking a nap right in front of a waterfall.

A really nice lady gave us free ride bracelets so we were able to ride the train through the park which was Carter's favorite part.  We also got to ride the carousel a few times.

We were planning on going to the zoo, and the children's museum to fill our time, but the zoo was so cool that we never made it to the children's museum.  We spent all day at the zoo and had a blast.  Luckily it wore the kids out a lot so the drive home went really fast.  It was such a fun day trip!