Mom's Group Trip to Scottsbluff Zoo

The Riverside Discovery Center in Scottsbluff is a wonderful place for littles (and adults) to play and explore. It is a small well kept zoo that offers a playground, water discovery centers, a splash pad, a petting zoo and with all the construction going on I can't wait to return and see what else will be on that fantastic "to-do" list. (It looks like a children's museum is in the works!)

The kids had a blast and mine was EXHAUSTED at the end of the day.

 Intently watching the ducks!

I was caught with my camera, which is so large the kids find it intimidating sometimes.  This is a perfect "thoughtful" shot isn't it? 

I wonder what Addi was telling her here...

Joel LOVED the water center and sand, I really think he could've stayed here all day.

Perfect lounging spot.

She stood like this for quite some time, perhaps she was contemplating the slide? 

The girls played ring-around-the-rosy and Briella Bean giggled the entire time.

And now it's story time, which leads up to the best picture I have yet to take on this new-to-me camera. I'm so excited to share it with you. While the girls were busy playing ring-around-the-rosy, look who decided to join us?

Isn't he beautiful?

His family.

It was at this point that the girls decided to stop their game and check out these adorable babies...

... apparently papa didn't like that too much because what happens next is amazing. First, two female peacocks fought it out. They were chest bumping and pecking at one another and papa had enough of that as well. He came in all decked out, showing off his beauty and was also protecting them with a rather wonderful display that I felt honor to capture on camera.

He worked really hard to get the females to calm down and corral them in a "safe" corner.

Shaking his feathers! Beautiful!

He finally got them to a place where he felt they were safe, turned to us and I captured this picture...

Isn't he just beautiful?! This is one I'm framing. I didn't touch it, no editing, I left it as is. I am beyond thankful I brought my camera just for this one shot. After this he calmed down and went on his way and so did we, but thanks for the show!

Erin, you are a beautiful momma.  

Bean "helping" Jill push the stroller...

We then made our way to the picnic tables and enjoyed KFC provided by the mom's group. Sarah did a fantastic job of organizing this day, it was all around wonderful.

Audrey found something more appetizing.

She LOVED Bean's shoes.

After lunch we made our way around the zoo and checked out other animals. Bean thought the Meerkats were hilarious. I agree with her...

They kept putting their adorable little paws on the glass and Bean tried oh-so-hard to "touch" their "hands"

Hahahahaha, this picture cracks me up! It reminds me of our dog Marley.

The two lions are cuddling, and one has it's paw on the other... 

Once we made our way around the park we ended our day at the splash pad! Fun!

Fruit + Splashpad = Fun times.

Again, thank you Sarah for providing an opportunity for some amazing mom's to get together and have fun. The kids obviously enjoyed their time together and I enjoyed my time with other mom's as well. Let's do this again sometime.