Trip to the Zoo

There is in Tyler a surprisingly nice zoo--it makes me a little annoyed that Lubbock doesn't have a good zoo, but I figure it is because Tyler is such a humid and rainy place, plants grow much more abudently than they do out here.

Well, Aunt Amber (my sister) has a zoo pass that allows her to get in for free, as well as getting myself in cheaper. We drove out there one very hot day (though that is a little unneccessary to say--almost every day we were out there hit triple digits) that Amber had off from work.

Upon arrival, we realize that we left without the stroller. Amber is unwilling to drive back the 20 minutes to retrieve it (which I don't completely blame her for), so we are stuck trying to figure out how we are going to wrangle two large children through the zoo. We decide to rent a stroller.

They only come in single seaters, they are a bit expensive, and they are rigidly upright, which is not ideal for Gabriel.

Unfortunately, Emerald can walk, and has her own source of shade (the gigantic hat my mother bought her for gardening), and Gabriel has neither benefit. He also gets way overheated cuddled up next to sweaty Mama or Amber. So, we strap him into the stroller and head for the gift shop--he is leaning precariously all over the place.

Noticing our dilemma, Aunt Amber decides to buy souvenirs at the beginning of our trip--two long limbed stuffed monkeys in the vibrant shades of neon green and pink--which we drape around Gabriel to hold him upright. He is a boy in heaven, chewing on those monkey friends, and we set out.

There was a petting zoo with goats as we walk in, but we don't deem it a good idea to let the Rampage out amid skittish animals, though she called "goat" as we passed. Clever girl!

After a bit, we stop and get some food--the eating area is really very cool. It has giraffes and elephants and other herbivore animals from the plains wandering around so you can watch them while you eat. Emerald thought they were really very cool--she had just seen Madagascar for the first time, and no doubt associated every giraffe with Melman.

About that time, Gabriel became very very hot. I was growing concerned about his health, though in retrospect, I was probably over-reacting. Anyways, I insisted that we wait inside for a while--we head to the penguin house because it is air-conditioned and they are going to feed the penguins soon in this big afternoon show.

The weirdest thing--there is a large glass wall on the opposite side of the penguins than we are, and it opens back up to see the giraffes, etc. Well, Amber told me that the zoo keeper had informed her that every day during the penguin feeding time, this particular ostrich heads over to watch the show. Sure enough, a half hour before the feeding began, this wide-eyed ostrich sets up camp right outside the penguin exhibit so it can get a front row seat to the show! It was so funny, this weird little osrich. I guess it would get boring in the zoo for the animals--they'd have to figure out something to pass the time.

Emerald had a great time in that exhibit. At one point, she kissed a random little boy on the back and ran off--what a weird little girl!

I was feeling much better at this point, so we continue on in the heat, which the path is luckily shaded.

Surprisingly enough, Emerald's favorite exhibit was the reptile house. She loved this one white snake, and she sat with her face pressed right up to the glass and watched them, yelling to everybody that came in to come and see the funny little snakes. She cried when we left there.

Finally, we took them to the bird walk through, which is a big enclosure where there are a bunch of free range pet-store birds--cockatiels and parakeets, stuff like that. You can buy birdseed covered sticks, and the birds will land right on them and eat.

What we didn't take into consideration was that Amber's bird, Dennis, had bitten the crap out of Emerald earlier that day, which had sent her into a hyperventillating panic attack.

Emerald freaked out, ran up to a random stranger (though, when you are a two-year old, no one is a stranger--sigh) and demanded to be picked up and removed from the frightful place. When random stranger would not take her out, she ran around the enclosure yelling at the birds to "go go go go go!"

All in all, very fun trip--we bought McDonalds for Emerald on the way home, and she had just a wonderful day!