The last time that I was at this zoo (a little over an hour from here), I was pregnant with Samantha. That was six years ago when I went with Deb and her three kids. It's hard to imagine how much my life has changed since then ...
As I was paying for our admission, I was asked if I was there for the reptile exhibit.
Excuse me?
Ah, no. I don't care for reptiles. At all.
I was there for the giraffes and the monkeys.
It just happened that last weekend was a "special" weekend for a big reptile exhibit at the zoo. Owners had brought in some of their prized reptile pets and you could touch most of them. Fabulous.
I would have been fine just skipping this exhibit, but I was the only one in our group that felt that way. So I went along with the group. And it turns out that it was pretty fascinating; even if I have nightmares for the next four weeks.
Meeting Snappy, a 21-year old turtle that this man has had since the turtle was the size of a nickel:
Petting, with two fingers, one of the many snakes on exhibit {shudder}:
A tarantula:
And probably the most amazing thing there, a snake that weighed 120 lbs! I have no words.
Once we washed and sanitized our hands (I did so just to feel better, even if I didn't personally touch any of the reptiles in the building), we set off on our zoo adventure.
Sophia read the map:
We walked several trails and stopped to look at various animals along the way, including some monkeys:
Jack was a real trooper, riding in his stroller and taking in all of the sights.
At lunchtime, we headed back out of the zoo and into the parking lot. We had parked right by some shaded picnic tables, so we unloaded our picnic lunches and ate before we toured the second half of the zoo.
Pausing for a picture on an ant statue on our way back in:
One of the options inside the zoo is to take a free train ride over to "Africa" to see some African animals, including the giraffes. This was something that the girls had looked forward to for the whole morning.
Riding the train:
Jack rode with Aunt Deb:
You are allowed to feed the giraffes lettuce leaves; quite the attraction!
Sophia was a little leery at first, but finally warmed up to the idea:
There were nine giraffes in total, with tongues that are 17" long.
Two of them were little "babies:"
Posing with the elephant "tusks:"
Shortly after we left the giraffes, Jack fell asleep in his stroller and managed to take a 30-minute power nap.
Check out the horns!
After we got back from Africa, our last stop was the Petting Zoo. We were able to go inside with the goats and the kids all loved it!
Brushing the goats was a major highlight:
The girls were having so much fun inside the pen with the goats, that it was difficult to get them to move along to the other animals.
A llama:
My babies:
Posing on the elephant statue in the playground area:
And of course, we never miss an opportunity to go down a slide if we see one on a playground:
I'm not sure how those long legs manage to fit in the slide these days!
I am excited about the idea of going to the Detroit Zoo possibly next year. Jack will be a little bit older by then and will be able to enjoy it even more. There are even more animals there and it will make for an exciting family trip!
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