Today, we had an early wake up call!
We had reservations for breakfast with Santa and the Animals at Akron Zoo! We had to be there at 9:00, so we left home right at 8:00.
We got there and were escorted to the big cafeteria. There, they had a huge breakfast buffet, cookie decorating, a craft, and of course, a visit with Santa!
We decided to head straight for Santa, since we knew the line would get pretty long. We were some of his first visitors. It was cool, because he had Mrs. Claus with him! You don't get to see her very much! Reagan was a little bit shy, but warmed up after a few minutes.
After she talked with him and we took our picture, he had a little gift bag for each kid. The bags had lots of snacks and a little stuffed Christmas Owl. It was so nice of Santa!
We decided to eat next. The buffet was great! They had, cinnamon rolls, fruit, scrambled eggs, pancakes, hash browns, bacon and sausage. It was delicious! While we were eating, there was a little elf named, Ellie, walking around talking with the kids. She did a little magic trick and took their "picture" with a HUGE foam camera!
While we were waiting for our group to be called for the rest of the activities, we went and decorated a cookie and did the craft. The craft was pretty cool. They glued a piece of paper to a plastic spoon. The paper had a little hole in the top half. The kids glued cotton balls all over it. When they were done, they could hold it up and it looked like they had a Santa beard. It was too funny!
In the basement of the building we were in, they had a HUGE model train set up. The kids were in awe of this. Reagan could have watched the trains go around and around all day. In fact, when we had to go upstairs to meet our group, she put up a fuss because she didn't want to leave!
We finally had to go out to the carousel and find our group. We were then led over to the lion exhibit. The staff had put a Christmas tree in their pen with treats and stuff in it. It was neat to see them going at it trying to get their treats.
Next, we took a short walk around the zoo while we waited for our turn to feed the penguins. When we got to the penguins, Reagan was so excited and not even grossed out by the dead fish in her hand. The penguins were just swimming round and round the platform waiting for the fish. She loved feeding them and asked to do it again, when we were out of fish.
When the event was over, the zoo opened to the public. We were allowed to stay, since our program included zoo admission. Even though it was raining, we decided to walk around a little more. We were already in our ponchos and it wasn't overly cold. It was actually really fun, because we were the only ones in the zoo. We only saw two other groups of three people. It was so funny. It was deserted!
We had the best time playing with the Otters. They followed us to all the different windows in their tank. It was hilarious! Reagan would run to one window and they would follow, so she would run back the other way, and away they went. We spent about a half hour playing with them.
We finally decided to call it a day and head home.
When we got home, Reagan and I decided we would roll and bake our cookies before her nap. Then, when she got up we could frost them. We had the best time cutting them out. She was an amazing helper! Our dough made MANY more cookies than we thought, so it was quite the task! LOL!
After nap, we had even more fun decorating them. Reagan actually hummed Rudolph and Jingle Bells to herself the WHOLE time she was doing it. It was the SWEETEST thing! She absolutely loved decorating and did almost every single one herself!
What a perfect family fun day we had!
The photo of the day is Reagan and her fish for the penguins.
And, our little cookie cutter....
Finally, us and our finished product!
Eppie Adventure - he took a trip to the zoo, too!
