John Ball Zoo

Monday before our movie, we took James to the John Ball Zoo here in Grand Rapids and tried out our new stroller.  Jon had not been yet so it was fun for all of us.  We learned that John Ball never even lived in Grand Rapids, but the zoo is named after him.  Interesting, or weird.

The weather was wonderful.  It maybe got to 60 degrees while we were there.  Wonderful jacket weather, and it was not too busy.  It is a really interactive zoo.  There are lots of hands on things for kids of all ages.  We did not do much of it though.  Just walked around and looked at the different animals.

There are two places to pet animals.  One looked more like it was for smaller kids.  It just had a few little goats.  The other one had goats of all sizes, pigs, chickens, roosters,  and turkeys. 

James really liked the pigs, but I could not get a smile.

Another attempt at a smile with the pigs in the background.

There is a place where the wallabies can hop around the path and you can pet them.  They seemed content to stay away from the path while we were there, but here is a picture of the joey getting his face cleaned and some of the other wallabies.

We got a better picture of the bears this time.

They were just relaxing.

Lots of colorful bird that you can go into the cage and feed.

I had a picture of this animal before and I did not know what it was.  Well, I looked at the sign this time, but I forgot.  Still a fun looking animal.

Pink flamingos.

I really like the colors of this animal, but again I cannot remember what it was called.

These last two pictures are not the greatest, because they were taken through glass.  It was a cute little monkey.

We saw the whole zoo in about an hour, so not as big as the Toledo Zoo, but Jon and I really like it.  It felt like being out in the woods.  There are lots of trees and waterfalls and stuff that make it feel more outdoorsy.  It was a fun morning at the zoo.