The Animals at the Zoo

In addition to the dinosaurs we also visited several of the real animals at the zoo. Lest you have any doubt, these were by far the wildest animals at the zoo. That's why they were fully caged in the guest relations office behind the glass away from all the other people.

When we got to the zoo we pulled out the stroller and loaded it down like a pack mule. Then I went to try to move it and realized that it was really hard to move. Hmmm... The brakes aren't on, so why isn't this thing moving?? A quick glance at the tires revealed the answer. Not one, but two flat tires. And no pump in the car... I thought surely the zoo would have a pump, but just in case we unloaded everything and set to walking without the stroller. The guest relations office at the front of the zoo did indeed have a pump so while the boys and I waited patiently in the nice air conditioned office Kevin went back to the car to get the stroller and aired it up and ready to go.

After we visited the dinosaurs we picked up some pizza for lunch. We spent the next 20 minutes circling both the inner courtyard and outside courtyards for a table while precariously balancing our food. Just as we were about to give up a nice couple offered us their bench. Not a table, but certainly better the hard cobbled ground we were considering. Before too long some folks occupying a nearby table left and we were able to move over to it. After lunch, we headed off to see the animals at the zoo.

Our first stop was by the herd of giraffes.

Even the giraffes craned their necks at our traveling show. :)

After the giraffes we made our way over to the elephants.

Connor was particularly fond of the elephants.

He especially liked the baby elephant.

We also made a stop by the tiger cage.

The tiger had just come out as we were passing by so we got to enjoy quite a show as he wandered his area and stopped off for a drink of water.

The lions were watching passers by looking for their afternoon snack.

Apparently nothing looked terribly promising.

The leopard was the only other one of the cats who was up and prowling.

He was pacing the fence line of his cage while half a dozen or so folks snapped pictures of him and children excitedly pointed and shouted to their parents to come and take a look.

The opaki (?) off in the distance was less interested in having his picture taken.

I am pretty sure I have seen that look before...

Uh, huh... That looks an awful lot like the no more pictures look.

The kids were almost zonked, but we decided to make a quick run through the monkey area before heading home.

Unfortunately the first set of monkeys weren't terribly cooperative. The only thing they wanted to show me was their hind end. So I took a picture of their roommate the turtle instead.

Some of the other monkeys were a bit more cooperative. Though their fences gave my lens focus quite a work out.

We stopped for a rest in the shade and watched the monkeys for a while. No longer in motion the boys stirred and decided it was time for an afternoon snack before heading on to see the birds.

Ryan was funny. As I was trying to get a picture of one of the birds from afar in the open air section he kept telling me there was another bird "over there." He kept getting more and more insistent and began yanking on my shorts. When I finally turned and look there was a 8 inch tall bird less than a foot from my feet. He was hopping around checking us out.

We made one final stop in the air conditioned fish area where the boys enjoyed crawling through the tunnel and finding Nemo and Dory.