Yesterday was a day! I'm not exactly sure if I thought through the ramifications of choosing to go to the zoo on a half-price day during Spring Break! Otherwise, I might have expected the five minute drive from the interstate exit to the zoo entrance to instead take an hour and 15 minutes. I also would have expected the 45 minutes we waited in line to get tickets to get in. Alas, we finally entered the zoo (2 hours after we had planned to get in)! This meant half of the time we allotted to sight-see was spent in line. I felt terrible for the boys (my son and his friend) because I knew it would seriously limit what we could do while we were there.
So we went in and started with the primates. We saw all the monkeys lounging around and having a great time, gorillas, baboons, and orangutans. Then we moved on and saw the cheetahs. Normally, they are difficult to spot, but it was magnificent to see them out and about! I even got a still photo of one, for which I was very pleased! We saw the rhinoceros, elephants, and horses. We saw tortoises and sea otters and an alligator. We saw the flamingos and some small turtles. We even got a peak of the lazy kangaroos! But of the entire zoo...those were the only animals we saw!
Soon after arriving, the boys were hungry and we found a spot to sit and eat (on the ground). :) The boys spotted the train and being the locomotive fanatics they are, JUST HAD to go for a ride! I thought that sounded great, but by the time we were done eating and taking restroom breaks, the line for the train was more than 30 minutes long! :(
Standing in the train line was not something I wanted to do, but their hearts were set on the ride. So thankfully, my imaginative little buddies quickly found entertainment in the gravel covered ground. They drew alphabet letters and made rock piles. They kicked up lots of dust (which they got in trouble for doing). And overall, it wasn't too awful keeping them entertained until we could get on the train.
Finally, it was time to board and we were whisked away down the tracks....and the train came the stopping station about five minutes after we started. Talk about the shortest train ride ever! So since we had all day passes to ride the train, I was going to get our money and time worth in riding this train. We stayed on while the new boarders came on and we rode the train again back to the first station! LOL We did this one more time and got off near a food court where they have lots of stuff for smaller children.
This part was great! The boys waited in another line (this time a short one) to wash their hands and get to pet the animals in the petting zoo. They had a baby calf, chickens, a huge hog and a very fat goat (I asked if it was pregnant...they said she was just fat!). We disinfected and gathered up our stuff again, when the boys discovered a toy they wanted...a waterfan! It was a battery-operated fan attached to a spray bottle. The boys took turns running around spraying each other with water! Some of the bystanders seemed to love being included, others shot me a dirty "why don't you control those kids" type look! I kept them from being too rowdy, but our time was up at the zoo, and I wanted them to have some fun that didn't include standing in line waiting for something!
Our last stop was unplanned and while I really was supposed to get us out of there by 2pm, we walked by the kids barn and they just had to play! Inside are all kinds of things for kids to do. They can climb the chicken coop, watch dairy videos on life size cow statues, watch turtles or play in a few horse stalls. They had lots of fun there! I kept trying to snap pictures, but between the crowd inside and the speed of these boys, I think I got a total of one...count it...just one picture! :)
On the way out, the boys wanted to ride the train again...the line this time was an hour and a half and we were already past our deadline, so I regretfully had to decline. I had a doctor's appointment that I could not miss at 3:45. So by 3pm, I had two exhausted little boys running across the makeshift parking lawn and we were off across the metroplex, headed home!
I loved that we got to spend the time together, but I sure would love to go back on a FULL price day NOT on spring break and spend a little more money and be a little more leisurely with our viewing! I hope next time we can see the lions, the white tigers and the grizzly bears! I hope we'll wander through the bird section and see the reptiles. I hope we'll see the rest of the desert area (giraffes and meerkats). And I don't want to be rushed to leave for any pressing appointments!
So despite my failure to see what should have been some obvious drawbacks that I could have prepared for, I loved our trip. We were able to see so much of God's amazing talent in the vast array of creatures. We laughed and played and spent time together! We talked about the Lord and the story of Noah's ark and learned a lot about relating to each other under less than desirable circumstances! We made some great memories! So no matter what lines we waited in, the day was a success that left me smiling and happy that we were given such a gift!
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