Trip to the Zoo

On Saturday the weather was going to be great so we decided we would go to the zoo. Mom, Alyce, Grams, Pa Pa and myself. Everyone else probably had the same idea as the zoo was very crowded for early March.


The first thing we did was go to the Children's zoo. This was Alyce's first trip to this part of the zoo. Typically admission is $4 a person and in the past we figured she was too small to appreciate petting all of the cute animals. Now that Alyce is older and we are zoo friends thanks to a great gift from Grandma we all got into the Children's zoo for free. The first thing we experienced was to pet all of the goats. I'm not sure what type of goats they were but they were very docile and handled all of the kids pulling and grabbing without any complaining and they were not very big either. Alyce at first was a little afraid of the goats and refused to pet them.apprehensive to petting the goats. I think they were new to her and she wanted to sit back and watch them for a few minutes before approaching. After watching the other kids pet them for a few minutes Alyce decided to join in on the fun. Once she petted her first goat she was a big fan and started petting and brushing each and every one. Alyce liked to use the brush on the goats more so than petting them. She would walk over pick up a brush, brush a goat, and then put the brush back. She repeated this cycle over and over again. With the goat area being closed off and Grams and Pa Pa in attendance I even got a few minutes to relax with a goat.


After the goats we took Alyce to the indoor section of the children's zoo and she got to see a couple of fish tanks, some turtles, a meer kat family, and a tarantula. I liked the meer kats the most and Alyce liked the fish. There was also a toy truck to sit in that Alyce shared with another boy. Once he got out of the truck Alyce moved into the the driver position.

After the children's zoo we ate lunch at the cafe in the center of the zoo. Everyone else had the same idea as the food court area was packed. It didn't take too terribly long to get our food and with our zoo friends discount is was fairly reasonable.

Following lunch we walked up the big hill at the zoo to the Big Cat Country. We saw all of the big kitties and meows. Alyce eventually called some of the tigers "tigers" after a bit of coaxing. The cats weren't terribly exciting as they were doing what cats do; sit around and sleep all day. After the big cats we walked over to the African area and looked at some zebras, giraffes, a camel, and some kangaroos (yes I know there aren't any kangaroos in Africa). Alyce was the most enthralled with the giraffes and the camel.

These were the last animals we got to view. We had to get Alyce home for a nap and Mommy needed to rest. We had a great time and Alyce really seemed to get what she was looking at. She would smile, point, and her eyes would light up when looking at each new animal. I wish you could bottle up the excitement and save it for later in life.