Arielle and Ava
Breck, Noah, and LandonNoah and Ava's preschool took a field trip to the Dallas Zoo on Thursday, so I took the day off to go with them. We met at the school, where I got a firsthand look at what a HUGE amount of patience Noah's teacher, Ms. Lisa, must have to deal with my child and his buddies - they were crazy people! I pray that Noah's kindergarten teacher next year has even half as much patience and love for him.
We rode the DART train to the zoo and what an adventure that was on a weekday during rush hour. The train was packed and we had to ride the first part of the trip standing up and holding on. The kids and I were standing about six inches away from a perfect stranger, and he was turned in our direction so it was a strangely intimate/uncomfortable ride. Once we made it past downtown, most of the train emptied and we were able to sit down and enjoy the rest of the trip.
The first part of the morning we spent at the Children's Zoo. They have made some really cool improvements; there was some new play equipment and a spider web rope kind of thing for the kids to climb on. It was somewhat difficult to pull them away from there to go see some animals!
Right across from there is a bird sanctuary where you can purchase bird seed covered popsicle sticks that the birds will eat from. We hadn't been in there 2 minutes when a bird landed on Ava's stick and proceeded to bite her finger. The same bird also flew up and sat on my head and then landed on Breck's shoulder ...
Next we stopped at the petting zoo area where they have a pony that the kids can ride. Noah wanted nothing to do with it, but Ava and Breck both happily hopped on ...
With only about an hour left before lunch, we finally left that part of the zoo to see some of the animals. We went over to the reptile building where we saw an alligator, lots of lizards and snakes, and some frogs. Both Noah and Ava were fascinated by the boa constrictor and the python, but most interested in the display case with a miniature city inside ... and no animal.
We also got to check out the elephants. This seemed like kind of odd elephant behavior and didn't even look real to me. But I really don't have any idea how they typically act so maybe this is just part of being big, caged in, and bored out of your mind. Whatever - it made for a cute picture.
And here's Ava posing with one of the flowers sweet Breck picked for her - right from the beautifully landscaped flower bed outside the reptile house!
Most of the other kids and parents left after lunch, but we decided to stay and ride the train back a little later. We were able to check out the penguins and see how the kids measured up in comparison ...
Last, we went to the stingray exhibit. Predictably, Noah was super-excited about the enormous Sponge Bob blowup, not so excited about the stingrays. I wasn't all that sure about touching them, either ... I realize that the zoo wouldn't put dangerous, stinging animals in a huge pool and let people touch them, but I had to be repeatedly reassured by the zookeeper that they wouldn't sting us. Every time Ava would put her hand in and one would come close to her, I would yank her hand out of the water. "Steve Irwin, Steve Irwin" just kept going through my head.
We had a great time, and Breck's mom Valerie and I discovered that not only did we go to the same high school, but we graduated the same year! Wow, it really is a small world.
We rode the DART train to the zoo and what an adventure that was on a weekday during rush hour. The train was packed and we had to ride the first part of the trip standing up and holding on. The kids and I were standing about six inches away from a perfect stranger, and he was turned in our direction so it was a strangely intimate/uncomfortable ride. Once we made it past downtown, most of the train emptied and we were able to sit down and enjoy the rest of the trip.
The first part of the morning we spent at the Children's Zoo. They have made some really cool improvements; there was some new play equipment and a spider web rope kind of thing for the kids to climb on. It was somewhat difficult to pull them away from there to go see some animals!
Right across from there is a bird sanctuary where you can purchase bird seed covered popsicle sticks that the birds will eat from. We hadn't been in there 2 minutes when a bird landed on Ava's stick and proceeded to bite her finger. The same bird also flew up and sat on my head and then landed on Breck's shoulder ...
Next we stopped at the petting zoo area where they have a pony that the kids can ride. Noah wanted nothing to do with it, but Ava and Breck both happily hopped on ...
With only about an hour left before lunch, we finally left that part of the zoo to see some of the animals. We went over to the reptile building where we saw an alligator, lots of lizards and snakes, and some frogs. Both Noah and Ava were fascinated by the boa constrictor and the python, but most interested in the display case with a miniature city inside ... and no animal.
We also got to check out the elephants. This seemed like kind of odd elephant behavior and didn't even look real to me. But I really don't have any idea how they typically act so maybe this is just part of being big, caged in, and bored out of your mind. Whatever - it made for a cute picture.
And here's Ava posing with one of the flowers sweet Breck picked for her - right from the beautifully landscaped flower bed outside the reptile house!Most of the other kids and parents left after lunch, but we decided to stay and ride the train back a little later. We were able to check out the penguins and see how the kids measured up in comparison ...
Last, we went to the stingray exhibit. Predictably, Noah was super-excited about the enormous Sponge Bob blowup, not so excited about the stingrays. I wasn't all that sure about touching them, either ... I realize that the zoo wouldn't put dangerous, stinging animals in a huge pool and let people touch them, but I had to be repeatedly reassured by the zookeeper that they wouldn't sting us. Every time Ava would put her hand in and one would come close to her, I would yank her hand out of the water. "Steve Irwin, Steve Irwin" just kept going through my head.
We had a great time, and Breck's mom Valerie and I discovered that not only did we go to the same high school, but we graduated the same year! Wow, it really is a small world.
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