Zooriffic

For their summer reading program at our local library, the three oldest kids earned a free pass to the zoo. Last year, we let this prize expire and never made the trip :( So when I saw a commercial on tv for the dinosaur exhibit about to move on down the road, we decided to do the same.

It was a warm and sunny day (unlike the cozy gray rains falling from the sky as I type). We smushed 4 carseats and Caelan into the van for our drive to the zoo. Baby E and his very handy stroller (it has temperature and time indicators built right into it, sweet!) joined us for the adventure.

To our surprise, there was quite a lot of construction underway, but several improvements already complete. We aimed straight for the dinosaurs. They were mechanically run and moved about with smiles on their faces (surely a trick of the designers to lessen their life-sized impact on young viewers). You can't make a t-rex smile, but our kids didn't seem too concerned. Even Baby E was all smiles!

Back inside the main building, we were pleased that the sloth smelled less stinky than usual during our visit . . . greatly assisting in the "meander" aspect of viewing the neighboring animals in their habitats. E was very excited about the little fish swimming through the waters behind their thick, glass-walled tank. Brennnen didn't care for the thunder, lightening, and fog that now makes the Amazon pool (formerly fairly mundane) much more exciting! Granted, they could have cranked the volume down a few notches, but I still thought it was a cool addition to the exhibit.

At the giant tank, Buck took the opportunity to teach the kids a fake underwater swimming pose. He did such a nice job :)

We peeked at the macawas before grabbing lunch in the private party room ... no one was using it, and Buck feels unspoken rules (that I cling to like a baby to a bottle) are silly. For instance, the door is closed, the lights are off, the tables are empty. I see, "Keep moving." Buck sees, "Sit down and enjoy the quiet." Sometimes he sees better than me :) It's much easier to feed 5 kids at tables than outside in the hot sun.

E fell asleep and missed all the excitement of the Australia-themed environs. The Kookaburra refused to laugh, despite my endless attempts to sing him his song ... "Laugh kookaburra, laugh kookaburra . . ." Nope, nothing. The emus roam free, mingling with visitors. One started running at a surprisingly direct and intentional pace, but veered before a collision with my crew. Yikes! Thought I! :) (really we were perfectly safe, but it SEEMED dramatic! :)

The kids crawled inside a giant emu egg . . . and then into the pocket of a kangaroo!

Brennen had trouble not tripping over the stroller, it was like an invisible assailant . . . but not invisible. He scared away the giraffe, but did not wake the baby on his final pell-mell attack on the wheeled foe :)

A second and final trip to the dinosaurs and our journey was complete! Good times thanks to the local library!