A few weeks ago, we volunteered to babysit our favorite nephew, West.  (He’s our only nephew, but he’s still our favorite!) They live outside of Nashville, TN, so we decided to take all the kids to the Nashville Zoo.

Nashville zoo

Nashville is only about a two hour drive for us, so we loaded up the car early on Saturday morning and headed out.  After stopping at Kristi’s for lunch and to pick up West, we headed straight for the zoo.  We knew it would take around three hours to make our way through the entire Nashville zoo and we wanted to have plenty of time to check out all the animals.

Nashville zoo 1

We made it to the zoo and had the littles all buckled into their strollers.  That lasted all of two minutes 🙂

Nashville zoo 2Isn’t that just the sweetest?  I’ve decided that little kids are easier to raise when you have big kids.  The big kids are great entertainment!

Nashville zoo 4

Nashville zoo 3Our favorite thing about the zoo was the kangaroo exhibit.  They had several miniature kangaroo’s moving around, available to be pet.  All the kids thought this was just the coolest thing ever.  I mean, it’s not everyday you get to hang out with a ‘roo.

Nashville Zoo 6

The monkey area was pretty awesome, too.  The monkeys were awake and active and swinging all over the place.  The kids were amazed!

Unfortunately, right now the Nashville zoo is working on TONS of renovations.  Several of the exhibits we were really looking forward to were closed.  There were no bears, lions, tigers, elephants….none of the big animals you typically see in a zoo.  If you plan to visit the Nashville Zoo, you may want to give it a year or so.  They need time to update their exhibits before it’s worth your time and money.  When all the updates are finished, it will be perfect once again!Nashille zoo 5

My other recommendation?  Stay at a Hampton Inn…..it’s by far our favorite.  We lucked up this trip and was able to get a suite–complete with pull-out couch, separate bedroom, and kitchenette.  Plenty of space for our little party.

Even though we were a little disappointed to not see some of our favorite animals, the trip was a success.  We spent time with our favorite nephew, spent the evening in a comfy room, and enjoyed some time away from our 24/7 fixer upper/new home.  And we can’t wait to go back to the Nashville zoo when all the exhibit renovations are complete!