 |
| Glad we had our rain coats! |
Once we entered the park I got Carter out of the stroller to let him walk. He saw some geese and cute goslings. Mr. Man was so interested in them, I couldn't convince him to go check out the animals we'd actually come to see. He followed them around for about 10 minutes, even walking through a couple of puddles. It was cute, but at the same time made me nervous because geese can be mean, especially if they are protecting their young. I used to babysit these 2 sweet boys, Brent and Bo, every summer in high school and college. They lived across the street from a park which we frequented multiple times a day. The geese there were notorious for chasing little kids and one time had Brent cornered on playground equipment, too afraid to get down. Another time we were chased by a flock of geese waving their wings and honking at us. Brent was so scared he refused to ride in the double stroller and wanted to be held, so I ran pushing a double stroller with Bo in it while carrying Brent. I'm sure it was quite the sight to behold. Anyway, these geese were fairly friendly and didn't even mind Carter running after them while screeching his battle cry.
Eventually the geese out ran Carter and were far enough away he lost interest. We headed to an area where animals were housed inside because the rain had started again. We had the choice of a ramp or stairs and of course Carter chose stairs because I had the stroller and needed to go up the ramp. He spent another 10 minutes going up and down the stairs. He loved it because the railing to hold onto was low enough that he could hold onto it and did a great job going up on his own. I'm pretty sure we were in the park for at least 30 minutes before we saw our first exotic animal. Carter was cracking me up playing with things we didn't need to go to the zoo for. What can I say, he's easily entertained!
 |
| Finally got him to check out the monkeys which were no where to be seen. |
 |
| The first animal he saw was a grizzly bear and he was impressed! |
I was excited to see what he thought of the petting zoo because he'd had quite a bit of fun there when he visited the zoo with daddy, but all the animals were eating when we got there. I don't know if it's because Carter's been trained not to mess with Harper when she eats or because they weren't following him around, but he didn't touch a single animal. Although he did run up and down the incline and laugh hysterically. Again, our child is easily entertained!
When we got to the giraffes there was a sign that said you could feed the giraffes for $4 if you were a zoo member or $5 if you were a non-member. Of all my visits to this zoo, I have never seen giraffe feeding. As we walked up they asked if we wanted to feed the giraffes and I said no because I didn't think Carter would be very interested and I didn't want to spend the money. But as we stood watching the zoo keeper feed the giraffes Carter smiled the entire time and kept wanting to get closer. So I changed my mind and shelled out the $4 to feed them. Carter thought it was the best thing ever. He laughed the entire time and full on belly laughed when the giraffe would reach her tongue out really far. I would put his hand on the branch and hold it along with him. There were a few times he would hold on really tight and turn his head away to where he couldn't see, but smile and laugh the whole time. I'd have to say it was $4 well spent!
 |
| He found roly polys behind the sign. |
His favorite animals from this trip were the giraffes (obviously after getting to feed them), tree shrews, komodo dragon (it was trying to climb up the glass which he thought was hysterical), this animal that looked a bit like a pig but I can't remember it's name (they were running laps and he thought it was ridiculously funny), the meerkats as always he even hugged the meerkat statue outside their enclosure (except there was food right up against the window and he got scared when they were pretty much nose to nose), the elephant (which surprised me because it was far away and we didn't have the best view of it). He seemed to mostly like animals that look like something he has seen before such as birds, cats or cat-like animals, dogs or dog-like animals. Other than the komodo dragon he was slightly scared of all the lizards and would freak out if I tried to put him down or I was too close to the glass. Really he didn't like being too close to the glass in general.
 |
| Stare off with the meerkat. |
 |
| This is what happened when the meerkat got too close to the glass. |
 |
| Hugging he statue. |
 |
| Watching the tree shrew on the ground. |
 |
| Watching the tree shrew in the tree which I don't think I got in the picture. |
 |
| Excitedly telling me all about the elephant! |
 |
| Worn out on the way home! |
Check out Carter's Other Zoo Experiences:
Carter's 1st Zoo Trip
St. Louis Zoo
Zoo Trip with Uncie Jeremy
Zoo Trip with Daddy
Oklahoma City Zoo
Zoo Trip with Grammy
I know he's had other zoo trips, these are just the ones I've blogged about.
The stairs were perfect for him because they were short, too. And thank heavens the chimps weren't "chimping" each other. :) He loved the meerkats and flamigoes last time. Maybe they'll stay a favorite. It was cute seeing him hug the statue.
ReplyDeleteI hope so, it's adorable. Obviously I love that he enjoyed the elephants this time. I hope they become a favorite!
DeleteHe's getting a lot of use out of his rain jacket. Do you remember feeding giraffes with Konnie and the boys?
ReplyDeleteHe sure is! Yes, I do. The Springfield Zoo always has giraffe feeding, that's why I was surprised when our zoo didn't.
Delete