- "Mom, hey mom, you can tell that one's a boy!!!" -

...exclaimed one excited/inquisitive preschooler-aged onlooker.  Standing by her was a clump of older kids on their school field trip attempting to sketch some very detailed pencil handiwork of the elephant; and next to them, I caught a glimpse over the shoulders of three teenagers who were furiously editing Snapchats to enhance the more obvious characteristics of Mr. Elephant's masculinity. 

MEANWHILE, Harper barely noticed the ten-ton tusker because she couldn't remove her gaze from the ginormous piles of dung in the habitat. "El-fent! POOOOOP! Stiiiiinks! Poooooo, mama! Stinks!"

The St. Louis Zoo: providing entertainment for all ages since 1904.

...Which is why we NEVER decline Grammy's offer to hit up the zoo on a random Tuesday morning!

It was all fun and games until we hopped aboard the choo-choo:

But once the terror train unloaded, all was swell again. 

We finished scaling the perimeter of the zoo, oohed and ahhed over every single "aminal" [even the prairie dogs and alligators] and then headed back to the car.  Of course, we couldn't leave the city without driving through SLU and seeing all the tulips [AKA SLUlips!]...

Oh St. Louis, we love you so!!!