Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Sunday afternoon

After teaching Sunday School, I returned home to a house full of people ready to go to the zoo. We got there and got all of kid gear unloaded. We decided to make our way down to the Texas end since it was close to lunchtime and we were getting hungry. When we go to the zoo, we pack a cooler with lunch - saves so much money!! I don't think we have ever purchased any food items at the zoo (souvenirs are a different story!) . Our bunch looked so cool though! Evelyn rode in a stroller. Everett and K sat facing each other in our Radio Flyer wagon. If you haven't seen it, it is decked out!! We have the canopy plus the attachable trailer. There's not a time that we go that people don't ask us where we got it. We realized the first time we went that there wasn't enough room for all of our bags plus K in the wagon. We saw a family that had the trailer and decided we needed one. Luckily, we found one on Craiglist.
The boys really enjoyed being in the wagon. They would sit there and just talk to each other. Laner asked Evelyn what the boys were saying. She replied, "I don't know," with a tone that suggested she was above baby talk. We ate our lunch and then made our way over to the little farm area so that the kids could see the cow, chicken, pig, and goats. Everett loved all the animals, especially the goats. He would just walk up and start petting one.
K on the other hand, showed his fear of farm animals. He just cried whenever Chris would get close to the animal. Such a big boy!! We left the farm experience and went into the reptile building. I stayed outside with the stuff since that building gets crowded. K and Chris came out and we sat on a rock and marveled at our "little" boy as he ran around. Out next stop was in the new penguins exhibit. It is in its own building. They have a glass window from floor to ceiling that goes the entire length of the exhibit. The smart zoo people even built a little ledge that kids can stand on. Since Mark go stuff duty, the rest of us took the kids in. We waited a bit for a space to clear and then set the kids up on the ledge. The penguins were swimming around. Everett got scared whenever one swam towards him. He took a step back and almost fell off the ledge. I caught him but my quick movement scared K so he started crying. After that, the penguins were no fun. We quickly left and took the Lowries to the really cool bird dome. It is filled with parakeets, cockatoos, and cocktails. You pay $1 for a Popsicle stick covered with birdseed. You walk into the dome and wait for a bird to land on your stick. We usually go to the zoo in the mornings so the birds are hungry. They will zoom to your stick. You can even have two at one time on it! By the afternoon, though, they have had their fill and it was tough getting a bird to eat on the stick. We did manage to get some though. I held Everett while Laner stayed outside with the stuff. Everett was so funny! He seriously was like that Looney Tunes character - he wanted to touch them and hold them and squeeze them and called the George!! So cute!! After the cool bird experience, we headed up the mountain to check out the big cats. It was awesome!! Before we even got there, we could hear the lion. He must have been feeling pretty frisky because he was calling out to any available females very loudly!! I personally have never heard a lion at the zoo. This one is usually sleeping whenever we have been there previously (again, get there early, not much action). He would yawn and show his teeth and tongue - HUGE!! The kids were really impressed by his calls. I was happy that K didn't start crying!! Next to the lion is the tiger exhibit. They recently put the new tiger cubs in the exhibit with their momma. I could see the momma up on a ledge sleeping but no babies. It took a while to realize that they were curled up with her!! I got our super cool camera and got a few close up shots of the babies - so cute!!


Next, we headed to the elephants - K's favorite. They were so active!! They were kicking balls around, kicking the barrel around, and swaying. And they were really close to the fence so the kids could see how big they really are.We really learned that the later in the day, the more we see and hear!!

I mean even the hippos were active. They were having a great time playing with the water spray.

We stopped by and saw the giraffes and then headed to our last stop - apes!! They were all pretty active except for the big gorilla in the center. He was sitting up at the top next to a window. We went up to check him out. He looked so sad in his eyes, like he was bored. K started crying when we tried to get him close to see the gorilla so that didn't last long. Needless to say, we had some tired kiddos and parents!! We went home and put the kids down for naps.

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