rhinos, and dolphins, and bears, oh my!

there was also one lion, and one tiger, and lots of other animals, but those were vaughn's favorites. today we went to the indianapolis zoo with josh's parents. vaughn would not nap on the way down, and fell asleep when we pulled into the parking lot. but he woke up as we were walking in, so he didn't miss any animals. i was afraid that most of the animals would be inside due to the cold weather, but i think the only things that weren't out were the australian animals because they were constructing the cheetah enclosure (opening memorial day 2010) right next to them. it was kind of hard for vaughn to see an animal unless it was moving. the first three: deer, red panda, and tiger were all sleeping.

vaughn absolutely loved the bears (he has a resin brown bear that he sometimes carries around) and kept making growling noises at them. luckily, they weren't threatened.

he really like the rhinos (also a resin replica), and wanted to go and see them again after we walked past them a second time.

there was a really cute baby giraffe and two adorable baby elephants, and vaughn was very upset that he couldn't take a bath with the elephants.

(josh just told vaughn that grandma was taking a baby elephant home with her)

the dolphin exhibit has and underwater glass gazebo and you can watch the dolphins swim over you. after spending quite some time with the dolphins, we left. and then vaughn started making the 'more' sign and we went back for a second visit. the last stop was the ocean exhibit, where you can pet dog sharks as long as you follow a few rules. use two fingers, put your hand in after their heads have swum by, and don't touch their fins. vaughn had the cutest smile on his face(away from the camera of course) after he touched the first shark. here he is breaking the rules on his second shark: