The Early Hippo Gets the Doughnut

I'm not a morning person kind of hippo, but this weekend I just had to get up early to go to Cockadoodle Zoo. It's a special event at the National Zoo where visitors can see how the animals get ready for work in the morning. I wanted to see what they ate for breakfast, how big a toothbrush they needed, and what they looked like before they put their fur coats on.

I was so excited, I had trouble falling asleep. So I stayed up late playing games with my friends.


Eventually, we did manage to fall asleep.


But as soon as the sun came up I changed into a warm sweater and headed out the door. Here I am with my ticket to get in. HURRY UP!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!


It was a rather rainy day, but I still saw some really cool things – like the baby gorilla swinging in a hammock, the lions and tigers private quarters, and flamingos at feeding time (they get very noisy when they're hungry!).


I also saw a breakfast delivery for the pandas: fresh, crunchy bamboo!


My friends the hippos got a fresh polish and the elephants did their morning exercises. I worked up an appetite watching all the animals eating breakfast, so I was quite relieved when we got to my favorite part of the morning: a free doughnut and coffee.

Zoolights

I have been such a busy little hippo-getting ready for Christmas and seeing all the cool decorations around the city! I went to see the Zoolights display at the National Zoo. It was very cold outside, but very pretty right after our first snow.

There were lions...


...and tigers...


...and bears! Oh my!


I got very hungry thinking about pumpkin pie,


so I warmed up with a steaming hot funnel cake!


There weren't any light up hippos, but the flamingos and elephants were fun.



There was also a very scary python! I wonder if he is the one named Amazon in my building who keeps getting all the presents....


After I ran away from the big scary snake, I went to see an octopus


and a lot of monkeys.


By now, I was really cold again, so I went into the Think Tank to study how smart animals are. Of course, I already know all about that.


Even though it was really cold, I felt all warm and fuzzy (inside and out!) seeing the lights and my friends at the zoo. I hope they all get everything on their wish lists!