Zoo Day

One of the first things Johnny did when he started here in Texas was sign up for his work's social group.  They offer discount tickets to sporting events, shows, amusement parks, etc.  and host parties.  They do one thing a month.  This month, the event was an Easter Egg hunt at the Dallas Zoo.  We actually went to this last time we lived in Dallas.  (And I didn't post about it.  Shame on Me from 4 years ago.) We didn't do the Easter Egg Hunt then because it would have been pointless since The Captain could barely walk, but we did enjoy the discount tickets to the zoo, the free parking, and the monorail ride tickets.

This year, it was rainy and cold, and there was a walk for epilepsy that morning, which turned out to be the perfect time to go to zoo.  The animals were active and noisy.  I'm sure you've always wondered what lemurs really sound like.

Please forgive my videos.  I don't have speakers on my computer, so you just have to suffer through the whole, unedited thing.  Or don't, I really won't know the difference.

When we were here last time, the large animal exhibits were under construction, so that's where we went first.  First we saw the penguins.

 

The Captain is the same size as an Emperor Penguin.

We took an elephant ride.

 Saw lots of giraffes.

We almost decided to feed them, then the kids got distracted by . . . 

Cheetas!

And lions!

 One of the zookeepers for the lions was out and I learned tons of stuff about lions while we watched them run and play and pose for the females.  

Oh, and they were roaring.  Apparently, you can hear it all over the park.  I believe it. 

Sadly, my video only really got the end of it.  

Teenage boys, you think you look cool when you grow out your hair.  What you really look like is this:

Enjoying the gorilla walk.

 We had to go into the aviary since birds are a favorite for Joy.

Wrestling a crocodile.

 While we were waiting for the Easter Egg Hunt to start, we took some pictures of the kids as safari guides.

 Then we hunted Easter eggs.  

There were lots of kids, but even more eggs.  Even Joy filled her bag all the way full.  Though my strategy to go where no other kids were seemed to help.  

 The festivities were great.  Enough eggs for everyone.  And we discovered later they were filled with toys rather than candy.  That's a plus.  And we had lunch provided too.  Of course, we had to wait, so we visited the bug house.  It was interesting.  I learned some things there too.  And only felt slightly itchy.  

We had hugs for kangaroos at the children's zoo.

 The Captain enjoyed playing the spider and going to get the Joy fly.  

 After lunch, where we got even more toys and treats, we went on the monorail. The Captain had the camera most of the time, so I have lots of pictures like this:

Finally Joy tuckered out and took a nap in Daddy's arms for an hour.

 So we finished up the zoo with a trip to the Reptile House.  And on the way we saw lots of cool birds.  And afterwards, we decided to see the otters, then of course, the only way out was through the tiger exhibit, which ended up at the monkey habitat where the Gibbons were swinging and playing.  So we stayed to watch them for 15 minutes or so.  They were pretty much non stop.  Then it was perfect timing to see the bird show.  So we didn't get home until 4 or so.  Having left at 9 that morning, it was a full day.  But super fun.  I asked The Captain what his favorite thing was and he said "everything".  So there you have it.