Rainy day at the Greenville Zoo

My cousin just recently moved back to GA after being up north for a while for her husbands work and my sister and I met her at the Greenville zoo for some catching up and for some cousin fun. My sister was just about to go back to work after having her 2nd sweet pea and my cousin Maranda was about 4 weeks from her due with her 2nd, so finding a date that would work with our three busy schedules was challenging. When the "zoo day" finally arrived we were ready: lunches packed, car seats moved all around in every imaginable combination so that Melissa and I could ride together, sun screen, change of clothes, etc. Unfortunately when we woke up and checked the radar things didn't look so good. We all started texting and were debating whether to go or not but I just knew if we didn't go for it, it likely wouldn't be happening. So: we decided to shoot for the zoo and if when we arrived the weather was still questionable - we could make alternate plans then. 

When we arrived at the zoo it was overcast and a bit wet where rain had been through, but the radar actually looked clear so we purchased our tickets and walked through the gate and were developing our plan of action when we started feeling raindrops. Light rain drops turned into heavier raindrops which turned into loud pouring down we can't see clearly kind of raindrops. 

Awesome.

We've driven 2 hours, we've purchased our tickets, we're all wet now, and thus onward went our zoo day. 

Kids are so resilient - it was a like a free pass to play in puddles and get sopping wet while looking at large and very cool animals. BEST.DAY.EVER.

I took what photos I could between the frequent showers, but I wish I could've gotten more. We made it through the whole zoo and although we got wet, we saw everything and enjoyed ourselves. Memories made :). 

 Look at the raindrops! 

 When life hands you lemons - you make lemonade and they did! 

 Love a toucan! 

 So did they:

 Can't remember what this thing was called but it wasn't a cheetah or a leopard - it had some kind of crazy name. 

 They enjoyed watching it crawl around up high: 

 These things are so cool - this dude was like 60 years old or something crazy like that. I think I remember reading they can be well over 100. Insane. 

 This is my Aunt Kay with Ave - it was so good to see her and for her to meet our kiddos. My mom and her are always exchanging grand children stories but they rarely get to spend time with the others' grand children so this was a cool opportunity. 

 This was the giraffe observation area and I had to post this picture because my cousins sweet little pregnant belly just barely made it in on the far left. Love a pregnant belly :). 

 Grey and Ellie were angels - napping in the stroller along the way. Sadly, we didn't photograph it but Grey and Declan were wearing matchy matchy outfits! 

 Oh the joy of trying to photograph children....let alone 4 of them all 5 and under! At least we got them all in one frame right? Silver linings. 

 Partners in crime. My sister and I keep joking that when these two are in high school we're going to end up getting a phone call from the police to report heaven only knows what but most likely it will be largely Avery's fault and Declan will have gone along with it but then blame it all on her. Cousins! 

Every time I get an opportunity to do things like this, it further reinforces our decision to move here. I'm so thankful to be closer to family so that we can share these types of special experiences.