Kaiserslautern Zoo

The theme for our Family Sunday School this week is “God Made the Animals”, so I thought today would be a perfect time to share our visit to the Kaiserslautern Zoo on Friday.

One of our traveling goals for the summer has been to visit the Frankfurt Zoo and it has been postponed twice already. We were determined to make it to there on Friday, even though the rain was pouring down here all morning. We checked the Frankfurt weather and it looked as if it would clear up.

The Frankfurt zoo is about a two hour drive away from where we live. So, we got up super early and had the car packed with kids and all by 7 am. Okay, maybe it was a little closer to 7:30 am, but really, who’s counting??

We decided to make breakfast quick and easy by giving the kids poptarts and juice in the car while we drive.

They were all being so good! MC and EA were playing with their bucket of polly pocket dolls and accessories that we keep in the car and Will wasn’t making a sound. I should have known something was amiss….

Exactly half-way through our car drive, Will coughed slightly and then proceeded to throw up poptarts and juice all over himself. Now, he has only thrown up one other time in his two years of life, so I was immediately worried. We found a place to turn around and stopped to clean Will up.

Of course, we decided that the Frankfurt Zoo wasn’t going to happen once again.

We were going to go straight home but stopped to rethink that plan when Will really began to act as if he felt much better and the girls were truly disappointed that they would not see animals.

Our Plan-B became to stop in at the nearest PX to get a change of clothes for Will and go to the Kaiserslautern Zoo which was much closer to home for us. That way, if Will began showing signs of being sick again, we could get home easier and quicker.

This became the perfect solution and we had a very enjoyable day enjoying God’s beautiful creatures.

Keith and the kids at the entrance to the zoo. Because of the weather, we pretty much had the place all to ourselves. I think there were two other cars parked in the parking lot.

This tiger is definitely the star of the Kaiserslautern Zoo. He is on all of their banners, fliers, and website.

He’s a pretty ferocious guy.

This picture of Keith and EA looking at him has quickly become one of my favorites.

We told the girls that they didn’t have to hold our hands while walking through the zoo. So, they decided to hold hands with each other. Isn’t this precious?? I have a similar picture of them from a hike we went on just two days before Will was born.

Will isn’t too fond of big, scary animals, but he did enjoy watching the birds in the aviary.

I was fascinated by the mice fighting over this piece of carrot that was as large as they were. They did this the whole time we were watching them.

Monkeys are definitely my favorite animal to watch at the zoo.

Will also enjoyed watching the ducks, geese, and chickens in the farm animal area. He and I watched a peacock sneak into the fence along with these animals to enjoy some of their food while Keith and the girls were visiting the reptiles.

Will enthusiastically told me all about the farm animals and the sounds that they made.

I absolutely adore this little boy….

The entire time we were on our nature walk, MC begged to play on a playground. Before our picnic lunch, we found a swing that she could ride.

And she had a blast!!

It was also MC’s idea to have her picture taken with the panda bears on our way out. Of couse, EA and Will had to follow suit.

What a fun morning!!!

God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25