Zoology

Our field trip this week was to the Zoo. I had to start out with a biggie to see if I was prepared for taking out all five monkeys at once. And it seemed the zoo would be a good place because it is close to their natural habitat. It is possible that I cheated since my good friend Tricia and her sister joined us. Does it count as going by myself since they were watching their own little ones?

I would say the trip was a success. I didn't lose anyone, probably because I brought the harness. And Pearl had a minimal number of meltdowns, most because of the harness. By the end, she was trying to walk along holding her own leash and screaming if anyone tried to hold onto it with her. And there was a ear-splitting meltdown in the gift shop, which I am still perplexed as to why it started. But you take the good with the bad. And most of the time Pearl was very good and enjoyed watching the animals.

We didn't get to the whole zoo in one trip. Note to self what we should do next time: (Oh, and there WILL be a next time since we opted for the membership. We better get back in there and get our money's worth this summer.)

Discovery Land
Bird Show
Train Ride
Carousel?

I love this picture we took at the beginning. If you look carefully, you can find five out of the six of us in the photo.

Sneaky huh?

I got a shot of the girls at the beginning, because you know how I sometimes forget to take pictures as we go.

It really depends on how overwhelming it becomes. I must have done alright since when I got home, I had a good selection of photos. We stopped at the Elephants and watched a short show with the baby elephant Zuri.

She is really well trained, and the girls seemed to enjoy the show, although it was a little chilly in the shade.

I thought the weather was just right. It was cool enough that jackets were perfect and we didn't swelter as we walked around.

The elephant show had been a diversion, because our first stop was supposed to be the crocodiles; Daisy's favorite animal. Well, I don't think it would have mattered when we got there. We checked on him multiple times while we were there and he was always just sleeping under water.

How does one go about sleeping under water? Every once in a while some bubbles would escape up to the surface, but I was truly interested in how you hold your breath and sleep. He (or she) seemed to be quite proficient at it though.

A favorite of the trip was the new exhibit, Rocky Shores. Everyone loved watching the seals swim around.

Pearl was enthralled. She seemed content to watch the windows for long stretches of time. The large seal lion was nifty although we were quickly distracted by the Polar Bear. The tank is very cool with a great above and under water view. I was below and I snapped a picture of the girls watching from above.

We wandered around trying to catch a glimpse of the Bear and suddenly he was pushing off the wall, diving under the water and coming up next to the window right next to Daisy. He had a little routine...push off, turn, dive, surface, etc. It was awesome to see the water streaming out of his nose and mouth as he rose to the surface. Daisy was literally inches away, as well as the other girls who stood close. We watched for a few minutes and then let some others enjoy a close up with mother nature. (I did not get a picture because I was holding Pearl and watching too.)

I did get a picture of these Polar Bears, but they seemed less animated.

Somewhere in there we stopped for lunch. I got this cute picture of the girls afterward. Please excuse Daisy who dutifully smiled with a mouthful of cookie because I told her to.

Some other favorites not pictured: The tigers, flamingos (scarlet ibis), baby Kangaroo (can't remember what it was, but it wasn't a Kangaroo), Marmosets, lizards, and eagles.

It was a really fun day with the girls and I can't wait to go back and take Dad with us. I had June take this last picture when we got to the car. It is always good to remember that Mom was there.