Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Dallas Zoo

For the last year or so, Aunt Angela has wanted to take the twins to the Dallas zoo. Over Easter weekend, we finally decided to go. This was our first trip to a zoo.

Amy and I were worried how the twins would handle it. Would they like it or are they too young? How would it affect their nap routine? Well, thankfully, it all worked out and we had a great time.

The four of us, Aunt Angela, and Grandma all piled into the car on Saturday morning to head to the zoo. We arrived at 9:30am and we were ready to go.
When we first walked in the door, we were greeted by numerous colorful birds. Everyone sun-screened up next to the birds.
On the way to our first destination, we passed by some flamingos. The twins thought they were very cool.
Our first destination was the children's section. We went there first because if we only got one thing done, we wanted the twins to see a few animals up close. Here is the Koi pond. The fish came right up to the edge so everyone could get a good look.
Here are a couple of bunnies that were larger than our kids. Caroline go really close to them. Sadly, we were not able to pet them because the zoo keepers were busy with other animals.
Both Caden and Caroline touched this rooster.
They also liked petting the pony's mane.
Caroline loved this little statue of a lamb. She just climbed right on and stayed there for several minutes. As you will see in the pictures going forward, Caroline loved all the statues she found throughout the zoo.
I liked these wood horses. Caden got on first.
Caroline wanted to follow only she wanted to get on the taller horse.
This bridge went over an area containing ducks. The kids loved the bridge, the waterfall, and the ducks.
There was a pin full of about 10-15 goats. Aunt Angela and I took the twins inside. I assumed they would be scared being surrounded by goats but that was not the case. I was shocked at how brave the twins were. They went right up to the goats and pet them.
In the children's area, there was a lot of stuff kids could climb on. Caden was interested in the raccoon on top of this log.
It's Spider-Man!
It's Super Mario!
Caden thought the inside of this tree was cool.
One of our very few family portraits.
Soon after leaving the children's section, we saw some penguins.
One swam close to Caroline.
I think the coolest part of the Dallas zoo was the giraffe section. It was a sunken enclosure so the giraffes and kids could look eye to eye.You could buy lettuce to fee the giraffes. People would hold it out and giraffes would come eat it out of their hands.
It was cool how the giraffes took the lettuce. They would very quickly stick their tongues out, wrap it around the lettuce, and pull it into their mouth. You can really see the tongue in this picture. Also, I think it looks like the giraffe in this picture has a tiny giraffe head growing out of its horn. :)
We got to see the cheetahs up close when the trainers fed them. Here is picture later on when Caroline was pointing at one of the cheetahs. Of course, we saw some elephants.
The kids and Aunt Angie had some fun on the stairs.
I'm shocked we didn't come home with one of these stuffed monkeys.
Some giant tortoises.
Like I said before, Caroline loved the animal statues.
We also saw some some real crocodiles but Caroline was not allowed to get as close to them as the statue...though she did try.
My ladies walking out of the bird sanctuary.
Another animal statue. Caroline loves sticking her finger in people's mouths.
The zoo had a really cool chimpanzee enclosure. This one acted like he was modeling for me.
There was a baby chimpanzee that liked riding on the backs of the adults.
After seeing the chimps, we decided it was time to leave. It was now a little after noon. The kids were still in good moods but it was obvious they were tired. Heck, they hadn't even had lunch yet (just some snacks) so I was shocked they had not completely broken down. We were way off their normal schedule.

On our way out, we passed through a fairly dark tunnel that went under a road. Before we exited on the other side, both kids were sound asleep.
We let the twins sleep in their stroller for a little while before we left. This gave us time to check out a gift shop and pose for a few group pictures.
We had a ton of fun at the zoo. I'm sure we will be back.

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