Day one of our first family vacation! The first 1/2 of the Omaha Zoo...

We arrived in Omaha Sunday (6/28) afternoon. We were hoping that by leaving at Sydney's nap time that she would sleep some of the way...some is an understatement. She slept maybe an hour out of the 3 1/2 hour trip and needed to be entertained the rest of the way. She did pretty well though thanks to plenty of books, snacks, and trees to look at outside! That night we ate at Famous Dave's (Joe's pick) and got ourselves ready for our first big day at the zoo.

When we arrived we didn't really know where to start (it's such a huge zoo!) so we saw this sign for Lied Jungle and decided to head in. It didn't look big from the outside so I wasn't expecting much...it ended up being this huge indoor rainforest. (I think I read one of the largest of its kind in the world! We sure underestimated it!) So here is Sydney at our first stop, near a waterfall and below us were Madagascar Tapirs.

Here she is with some parrots (or macaws, I get then confused).

She is also really in to birds right now and spotted this bird! She kept her eyes on it for the longest time!

Once we left the rainforest we headed towards the giraffe house. We were about to walk inside before we spotted them eating leaves outside! (How we almost missed them I'll never know!) Accompanying them in their area were ostriches and black footed penguins.
And here's Sydney checking out the giraffes!

Inside the giraffe house there were some birds (kind of misplaced if you ask me...) but she was checking them out with her daddy!
They look thrilled don't they?
We found a giraffe she could actually love on! :)
Our next stop was the zebras, one of Sydney's favorites! She started spotting them in her book and sticker book (although she can't say "zebra") she gets excited when she sees them. She could have watched these guys all day long!
Next stop: Red River Hogs. We were fortunate enough that they were both right by the fence, so it gave Sydney the opportunity to stretch her legs and see them up close. She was thrilled to pieces to be so close to them, and didn't want to leave them behind! (It's in the bottom left hand corner--hard to see.)
Another Red River Hog!
Sydney with the Bongo she found. :)
Refueling with some raisins before taking on the Rhinoceros exhibit!
Sydney and her daddy with a rhino. Please excuse the raisin in her mouth; she started hoarding them as he took her out of her stroller. :)
Sea lions (see the baby on the rock! So cute!)
Sydney enjoying her lunch by the sea lions!
All of the Koi in the Monkey Island pond.
And Day One is....DONE!