Since we had a (relatively) short drive home, we decided to have one more adventure, so we checked out the San Antonio Zoo. It was a pretty neat zoo. They claim to have the 3rd most animals of any zoo in the U.S. What they don't tell you is that easily half to 2/3 are birds or snakes. It was still really neat and we enjoyed it in spite of the heat and crowds.
Birdy wasn't feeling well, so we took pity on her and rented a wagon so she wouldn't have to walk as much. It was akward navigating the stroller and wagon through the crowds, but the girls thought it was great. I did have to get after them a bit to actually get OUT of the wagon so they could look at animals. They would have been content to lounge in there all day.
The zoo had a really neat exhibit where you could feed nectar to lorikeets (small birds from Australia. Here is a video of the girls feeding their first lorikeets (as always, pardon my shrill mom-voice. I don't know why I do it!)
Maybe it's the name, and maybe it is because she was fearless, but Birdy was the bird whisperer and got this one to hop up on to her hand where she was only mildy freaked out to hold it. EJ wanted to hold a bird, but got scared when they came towards her...
Birdy the bird whisperer in action:
The birds were very friendly and liked to land on us big people (taller perch, I guess).
At first I felt special having them be so interested in my nectar. But then one pooped on me and another landed in my hair, and specialness turned to fear (watch the blog for a very special "Mak gets pooped on" video later this week). Between the lorikeets and another "birds of Australia" exhibit, I got pooped on three times an hour. It was a banner day, I tell you!
DMP and I were giddy, GIDDY I tell you, to see that this zoo had the plastic animal molding machines! The kids didn't understand the nostalgic joy we felt, but they were really happy to each get their very own animal!
Remember these things? They smelled and are just like the ones from the Hogle Zoo when we were kids!
After a while, Bear only wanted to ride in the wagon. But it was kind of like that song where the little bear says "Roll over" and pushes everyone else out of the bed... He wanted the wagon all to himself!
The zoo also had an enclosed butterfly garden. It was really neat- butterflies flying everywhere!
We even made a few butterfly friends. (I love EJ's face below)
Forget giant hair bows and flowers, live butterflies are going to be all the rage!
Even Bear got a little hitchhiker- I think this one was trying to blend in with his puppy backpack and shirt! He didn't notice his friend and we didn't point it out- we were afraid he'd freak out and hurt it.
To top the day off, we took a ride on their awesome zoo train. It goes all around the huge park that is next to the zoo- it was about 20 min and a lot of fun.
Bear loved seeing and riding on the train the best of all. We were lucky to be the first ones on so we could pick where we sat- the very back, of course!
After the zoo, we headed home. Just as we stopped for dinner, Bear puked all over DMP. That was special, I tell you. At least DMP was holding him at the time. His post-puke shirt change in the parking lot would have been a lot more akward for me! Bear seemed cheerful enough after and even ate a little, so the trip still ended on a (tired) high note :)
2 comments:
How fun to explore a whole 'nuther part of the world. It sounds like a success, despite the little challenges that popped up.
I miss those wax animal machines every time we go to Hogle zoo!! don't they realize that every adult in utah would buy them out of nostalgia? It's nice to know they exist somewhere though. I know what you mean about the way they smell. You guys look like you had a great trip, bird poop, kid puke and the heat notwithstanding :-) Come home next!! We miss you.
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