Jacksonville Zoo Field Trip

Emerson and I were up before the crack of dawn, and stopping by the gas station for waters and pop-tarts (that we forgot at home), and made it to Gilchrist by 6am. A quick (and relatively quiet) 2.5-hour bus ride to Jacksonville, and we were at the zoo for the day! Unfortunately, it rained on us pretty much the whole time, but we had ponchos, and an umbrella, and we made the most of it, and the kids barely even noticed. The stingrays were the very first exhibit, and getting to touch them was a very exciting way to kick things off!

Next up was a train ride around the back side of the park, on which we saw quite a few of the animals in their exhibits from the back, including the giraffes standing in their very tall doorways, hiding from the rain, which they apparently do not like.

This bamboo forest in the Asia section was super cool, and felt like a magical, other worldly kind of place…

This beautiful sleeping kitty actually looked so soft and sweet, but those giant paws were a warning sign for sure.

We caught one 4D show, but never made it to the second. It was a nice 10-minute reprieve from the rain at least though. As was the carousel ride, which they rode for two rounds, and I enjoyed standing to watch, because it was covered and out of the rain.

And then we got lucky finding some free, dry, covered tables to sit and eat the lunches we packed and brought with us.

One of the other moms was surprised to see penguins without a snowy habitat. I said, “Well, there is one kind that lives in South America.” So she went to read the plaque on the wall, and said surprisingly, “Hey, you’re right! These are from South America!” I was like “Yes well, penguins are my favorite animal.” 🙂

The lorikeet enclosure was one of the coolest things we did, with the girls getting to feed the birds from little popsicle sticks. There were some very beautiful birds in there, and I couldn’t believe how close they were coming to us!

Another beautiful sleeping kitty cat, the jaguar.

My college roomies and I visited the Jax Zoo from Flagler in St. Augustine, back in circa 2007-ish, and we have pictures with these same elephant statues! I’ll have to dig those up to share here too…

And the giraffes finally came out to wander around for our viewing pleasure!

One of the girls spent $3 for them to all squish in here to experience hurricane level winds in the “wild Florida” section of the park.

And we all really loved the huge, beautiful new manatee exhibit! This area literally just opened in March 2026, so it’s truly brand new, and I’m so glad we were able to see it! I should have taken more pictures here, to show how huge this part really is, but you can see it in the background of our selfie below and Emmie’s picture with her new stuffed tiger.

And yes of course she needed a souvenir, and yes of course it was gonna be a super soft stuffy. 🙂

And on our way back to the front at the end of the day, the elephants were also finally out and about, and we got to see more of them than just their rear-view we saw from the train earlier.

We loaded the Astro bus back up right at 3pm, left at 3:15, and pulled back into the school safe and sound at 5:45. Jeff picked up Addie, and a pizza, and we all met at home (after an emergency bathroom break for me and Emmie on our way home). Emmie’s feet got soaking wet in a puddle about 3 minutes into the zoo today, so they were all messed up tonight. So after dinner and a shower, I gave her a quick mini-pedicure, slathered her feet in my good foot cream, and put on some fuzzy socks. Then she was wiped out, and wanted to go to bed early, and she was out cold in about 3 minutes flat.

Addison has been a bit harder for Jeff to get down, but I know she’ll give up eventually. I myself will be ready to head to bed pretty soon too. Honestly, walking 11k steps today felt pretty “easy” compared to the 20k for three straight days at Disney, but obviously I’m still tired and ready for some hot tea and some rest! Thankful I was able to chaperone another school trip, and make more memories with my first baby girl!