Durham comes to DC! Part 1

A couple weeks before we packed up and headed back to Durham, Durham came to us! Our friends, the Eberts, came for a quick visit! Between our two families, we have six kids, so it was in no way quiet, but it was very lively and fun!

Waiting very impatiently for friends to arrive!

The babies of the bunch (and Deb)

Our first morning was (say it with me now!): the zoo! It was literally 30 degrees, but we didn't even think twice. We bundled up the kids and packed enough snacks for a three-week safari and headed off. I drove part of the crew, and the dads took the older kids on the bus, which was VERY exciting for everyone. 

There was almost no one at the zoo (see: 30 degrees), and we got to the elephant house as they were doing some training with the animals, so we got a really fun, spontaneous lesson from the keepers.

I just love these two.

Grabbed our traditional shot-with-guests on our way around to the outdoor enclosure for the elephants.

We headed through the American Trail next, and the otters put on QUITE the show for us!

I know I've posted about it before, but the sea lions are such favorites. I could absolutely spend long stretches of time watching them "play" with the kids.

We never remember pictures of the two of us.

We headed down to the Amazonia house and had a blast watching all of the little ones enjoying the open-airness of the exhibit. At one point Deb said, "Yeah, we would definitely be here all the time, too, if we lived here." Yep! We averaged- minimum- once a week. Often it was twice. It was just such a fantastic opportunity for families.

One of the keepers told me that the spoonbills are show-offs. 

Note: if you visit the National Zoo, chat with the keepers. They are so knowledgeable, kind, and willing to patiently answer questions and educate. I regularly learned so much from them.

This one is definitely striking a pose.

Look how close you can get! And it's nice to see the animals have so much room for moving around. It's also incredibly humid in there, so I imagine it feels just right to them.

I couldn't decide if these massive fish were amazing or disconcertingly TOO MUCH. I'm leaning toward disconcertingly TOO MUCH. That fish could have eaten Lily or Lydia, I'm positive.

Monkeys! See the orange tail?

Our monkeys

"Animals Roam Free Here"

Theirs and ours.

There are some gorgeous birds in this exhibit. Had the best chat with a keeper about the relationships between all the birds, which was fun.

Can you spot the lion?

I'll zoom in for you.

We would have loved to have stayed for about two more hours, but the littlest among us were really over it around noon, so we packed everyone up, took them home, and fed and watered them. 

It works wonders.

Although, Brynn takes extra convincing, sometimes.

It was noisy and boisterous with so many littles, but it was so fun! And, when they went to bed, we got to chat and play board games with our friends. Winning all around! 

Also, because we were renting such a large house, we gave our friends the entire third floor (two bedrooms and a full bathroom), and our family took the second floor. Plenty of room to spread out. 

Up next: DC at night!