Zoo Adventure!
It was scheduled to be a hot one today. But we've had so many hot days indoors so I decided - spur of the moment - to take the girls to the Dallas Zoo today! Weather forecast was 105 before heat index, but since the morning was low to mid 90's, I decided to go for it.
Riley was sooo excited! We kept singing our own song "We're going to the zoo! Yea! We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo." At least until Riley decided it was only her song and that Julia (who was also singing her version) and I could no longer sing along. :)
We had the most incredible time walking the entire park. Didn't miss a thing and arrived a few minutes after the gate had opened. Which meant that we were in the third parking spot in front of the gate. So nice!
I let Riley choose which animal she really wanted to see first and we headed in the direction of that animal. Her first choice was the giraffe. She couldn't wait to see it! We saw penguins and lemurs and elephant ears (too hot for the elephants to really wander around so they were laying down with their backs to us, but we saw their ears flap!).
The giraffes were amazing! They were set down so that their faces were at the same height as ours. Riley and I were nearly inches from them as they ate. She did not appreciate the smell of the elephant area and kept plugging her nose and saying "eww... gross!"
So we continued on and saw all sorts of other animals. She laughed at the gorillas who were laying on their backs ("Look Mom! I see their butts!") and was a little nervous around the baboons whose faces looked painted. She wasn't sure what to make of them.
We brought tons of water, sunscreen and treats to keep us hydrated and protected. The girls never fussed and were smiling the entire time. Julia's eyes were huge as she watched each of the animals. One of the best parts was that the park was practically empty so we had plenty of room to see and stay to watch. We continued to see Rhinos (Jeremy's favorite animal), Camels, monkeys, tigers, and so on.
After walking for 2 hours, we were about to go home, but were right outside the stage area where they were just about to start a bird show. I asked Riley if she wanted to go and of course, she said yes. So we watched a 30 minute bird show that was just awesome.
At one point, two audience members were called up to take pictures with their phones of an owl as it was flying toward them. The owl perched behind them and they were allowed to take pics up close of it. As they did, the girl audience member turned her back to the audience. After they took pics, chickens came out on the stage. The girl got freaked out and started hopping and jumping backwards - and landed completely submerged underwater in the pool in front of the stage (not a large pool, but large enough). The workers all came running up to help. Little did we know that the alligator was the next animal coming out and thankfully, the door had not been open yet for it to come! They gave her a towel and led her backstage.
Riley's favorite part was when the alligator went out of the water and as the man led him offstage, the alligator ran after him! Julia loved when the birds flew over our heads and she was just smiling like crazy. Kept making "neh! neh!" sounds when they went away because she wanted to see them more.
We went home in time for lunch and had a full afternoon of playing animals, horses, and time in the playroom. Awesome day!
Riley was sooo excited! We kept singing our own song "We're going to the zoo! Yea! We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo." At least until Riley decided it was only her song and that Julia (who was also singing her version) and I could no longer sing along. :)
We had the most incredible time walking the entire park. Didn't miss a thing and arrived a few minutes after the gate had opened. Which meant that we were in the third parking spot in front of the gate. So nice!
I let Riley choose which animal she really wanted to see first and we headed in the direction of that animal. Her first choice was the giraffe. She couldn't wait to see it! We saw penguins and lemurs and elephant ears (too hot for the elephants to really wander around so they were laying down with their backs to us, but we saw their ears flap!).
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| No glass here! Riley loved being inches away! |
The giraffes were amazing! They were set down so that their faces were at the same height as ours. Riley and I were nearly inches from them as they ate. She did not appreciate the smell of the elephant area and kept plugging her nose and saying "eww... gross!"
So we continued on and saw all sorts of other animals. She laughed at the gorillas who were laying on their backs ("Look Mom! I see their butts!") and was a little nervous around the baboons whose faces looked painted. She wasn't sure what to make of them.
We brought tons of water, sunscreen and treats to keep us hydrated and protected. The girls never fussed and were smiling the entire time. Julia's eyes were huge as she watched each of the animals. One of the best parts was that the park was practically empty so we had plenty of room to see and stay to watch. We continued to see Rhinos (Jeremy's favorite animal), Camels, monkeys, tigers, and so on.
After walking for 2 hours, we were about to go home, but were right outside the stage area where they were just about to start a bird show. I asked Riley if she wanted to go and of course, she said yes. So we watched a 30 minute bird show that was just awesome.
At one point, two audience members were called up to take pictures with their phones of an owl as it was flying toward them. The owl perched behind them and they were allowed to take pics up close of it. As they did, the girl audience member turned her back to the audience. After they took pics, chickens came out on the stage. The girl got freaked out and started hopping and jumping backwards - and landed completely submerged underwater in the pool in front of the stage (not a large pool, but large enough). The workers all came running up to help. Little did we know that the alligator was the next animal coming out and thankfully, the door had not been open yet for it to come! They gave her a towel and led her backstage.
Riley's favorite part was when the alligator went out of the water and as the man led him offstage, the alligator ran after him! Julia loved when the birds flew over our heads and she was just smiling like crazy. Kept making "neh! neh!" sounds when they went away because she wanted to see them more.
We went home in time for lunch and had a full afternoon of playing animals, horses, and time in the playroom. Awesome day!
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