Elephant Too Loud

Last week we visited the National Zoo on a perfectly cool and overcast weekday morning.  A lot of the animals were out and more active than I've ever seen before.  The highlights were seeing the elephants and panda bears, since we can't visit those animals at the Reston Zoo.  Spencer was excited and ran right up to the elephant viewing area, but all three boys were a bit taken aback once they heard how loud an elephant can be up close!  I'm not even sure I knew elephants could be that noisy...Oliver kept saying that the elephant was burping too much.  And when we asked Spencer what he thought about the elephants later in the week, and even now, he still replies, "elephant too loud!"  We got to see one of the apes climb up and swing across the outdoor catwalk!  Then spent a lot of time viewing the pandas both inside and outside - the boys loved watching the mommy panda munch on bamboo and try to find a special carrot treat set out for her.  There was a nice carousel with all types of animals to ride, with the giraffe being the favorite followed by the panda bear.  Now that the boys are old enough (and tall enough) to get out of their stroller and really enjoy the different exhibits, we'll have to make more trips to DC!