Breakfast with Santa at the MD Zoo in Baltimore

Year after year, I've received notification of the Zoo's breakfast with Santa but was concerned about how expensive it was and while I was debating the cost, the event would sell out.  I mentioned the event to one of Beck's mom and she gave an enthusiastic review so Michael and I decided it was going to happen this year. I made sure to pay attention to the  e-mails and we signed  up for the same day as Beck's family so that we would know someone there.

We arrived and were finally able to go into the Mansion House.  I had never been inside nor had the boys and Michael had been in for a marketing event.  It was nice for the boys to be able to get inside the yellow house that they passed on their way to the animals.

Shortly after we arrived and found we were sitting with Beck and Remy, Santa arrived.  He walked past the food displays and willingly posed for a picture.  Because the line was short, we ate some of our food moved to the line.

The boys had already spoken with the Santa once at Greetings and Readings but you can never have enough time with the man in the red suit.  He was very kind to the boys and listened to the their list, which again was mostly comprised of Star Wars.

And, Santa's caretaker was kind enough to offer to take a picture of all of us.

While we were with Santa, the penguin mascot, Sphen, arrived. Jackson rushed to get a one on one with him.   Sphen happily posed for a picture.  Connor eventually caught up with the penguin and couldn't have been happier.

After the boys ate breakfast (read Jackson devoured an exorbitant amount of pancakes), we ventured around the Mansion House to see what else was being offered.  There were several crafts and all that was needed to decorate gingerbread cookies.   The boys brought home cookies and some ornaments for the tree.

Jackson was happy to run into Remy back at the table.  He was happy to show her his crafts and the fact that the penguin stopped by made it ever more special.

After dropping off crafts and cookies, we stopped by the animal encounters section to get an up close with an ambassador penguin.  It was so awesome to get that close to a penguin.  The volunteer had to ask the boy several times to not get too close and reminded that a penguin is a real animal that they needed to be aware of pecking.  Reluctantly, they did back up and secure their hands.

A big thank you to Beck and his family for recommending the event.  We had a great time.

On our way back to get our coats, Jackson found Santa again.

As we were waiting to board the tram, Santa exited the Mansion House with a suitcase.  The boys had a lot of questions about this and Santa obliged when waved to.  It was a great morning at the Zoo. It was really cold or else we would have gone to see the animals.