We have officially completed 4 weeks of our trip! We’re not sure if we’ve conditioned ourselves to be on-the-go when we get home, or if we’ll feel like sleeping for a week.

Today, we woke up to an amazing breakfast spread put out by Rachel and Stacey. We ate breakfast out on the deck outside, and then the girls got to play with the dogs for a bit.

Then, we all set off for the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. Luckily, Rachel and Stacy had a friend who gave them the tip to take a shuttle to the top of the mountain and then see the zoo as we walked down. Best tip ever!!! Since this zoo was built into the side of a mountain, we would have been wiped out by the time we made it to the top – especially for those of us who aren’t used to the Colorado altitude.

This was the most amazing zoo experience we have ever had! First, we walked through the Australia Walkabout area. Here, they had free roaming wallaby! At one point one of them hopped along the path that people were walking down – so funny! Then, we went into an enclosed area with a ton of birds – Sydney’s favorite! Here, we were able to buy sticks with bird seed on the end so that the girls could feed the birds. They had so much fun with this. The birds even walked along their arms, and one of them didn’t want to leave Syd, so she was thrilled!

Next, we made our way through the Asian Highlands and Rocky Mountain Wild areas. We saw a tiger, bald eagles, sleeping bears, an enormous moose, mountain lions, and porcupines.

After that, we went through the Monkey Pavilion where we saw a bunch of different monkeys, including lemurs, but the coolest things were the sloths. They were just hanging out in hammocks that were attached to the ceiling of the pavilion, out in the open! I guess the zoo wasn’t worried about them running out of the building since they’re such slow creatures. At one point, a little monkey was trying to get the attention of one of the sloths, but the sloth just laid there and couldn’t be bothered.

After that, we grabbed some lunch. Best variety we’ve ever seen at a zoo, by the way. Then, we were off to the African areas. Here, we saw lions, elephants, a rhino, zebras, and meerkats. But the BEST part was the giraffe feeding experience- Madison’s favorite animal! Here, we were able to buy bunches of lettuce to hand feed the giraffe. We were even able to pet them at the same time. This was so fun, and we laughed so hard when one of the giraffes licked Sydney in the face! Then, it was a game! Sydney and Madison started feeding the giraffes by holding the lettuce out from their mouths! It was so cool! We all had to try feeding them, and spent WAY too much money on lettuce – We just couldn’t get enough!

When we finally pulled ourselves away from the giraffes, we went over to Primate World where we saw orangutans, and gorillas.

Our feet were killing us by now, and we had seen the entire zoo, so it was time to go. We saw more animals than I wrote, but those were the highlights. This zoo was something we’ll never forget.

Then, we made our way back to the house where Rachel and Stacey had further plans to spoil us with a fabulous barbeque. It was so nice to just relax and hang out at their house. The girls got their first dose of TV of the trip, so they turned into half zombies at times. We just lounged after dinner until we were all beat – that zoo wore us out!