Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Do you want to go to the Zoo?

This morning when I woke up I decided I needed to take the kids somewhere fun. My husband rode the bus today and I might as well take advantage of a day with the car. I could take the kids to the aquarium and botanic gardens or I could take them to the zoo. Hmmm... choices, choices. We went to the aquarium the last time, kids are back in school, and the weather is a bit cooler. Let’s go to the Zoo!

I called a friend of mine at 8:30am and asked her if she wanted to meet me at the zoo in 2 hours. She has a daughter two weeks older than my daughter. She agreed and we decided to meet at the Zoo at 10:30.

First we went to go see the apes. As we were walking to the gorilla exhibit I wondered how my son would react this time. Last time we went there was a big male gorilla sitting right next to the glass. He was about 8 feet away from the glass, and my husband thought he wasn't getting closer because there were other kids standing next to the glass. He thought he would help him get closer. At first he just suggested to him to get closer, when he wouldn't he kind of nudged him closer, but he still wouldn't get closer, then daddy just picked him up and stood him next to the glass. I could see why he wasn't getting closer, he was afraid, but my husband didn't get it. Not until he full out started crying and fighting daddy to get away from the glass. This time no such catastrophe. We saw two gorilla mommies with their babies. One mommy and her baby sat next to the glass and munched on some yummy leaves. My kids and their little friend thought that was really neat!



Then we saw orangutans hanging out in the trees, usually they're down on the ground and hard to see, but this time one was perched way up on a tree and another was in a tree-house hanging out, doing what appeared to be reading the newspaper.


We saw hippos, and giraffes and zebras, and alligators, and elephants. There were two new giraffes born in April and May of this year. An older zoo-worker told us about the giraffe babies. The one born in April was named April and is doing great. The one born in May is called “B.B.” When the may baby was born one of the other female giraffes got to her before the mother and started cleaning her off. This made the baby bond to the wrong mother, and the real mother wouldn’t have anything to do with her. So she has to be bottle-fed. This is why she’s named “B.B.” (baby-bottle).


When we got to the elephants they were being fed. The trainers were having the elephants do all kinds of tricks. And there was even a baby elephant they were working with. It was quite entertaining to watch them.

We went in to the gator swamp while my friend and her daughter waited outside. Something about the smell in there she said... When we got inside we saw tons of alligators in this big tank. My son was looking eye-to-eye with all these alligators. He pointed at them and told me "mommy, they're bad, look, bad!" I guess that means he thought they were a little scary?


We saw the big cats, the tigers, cougars, snow leopards and lions, and cheetahs. The kids all knew what sounds these animals made!

Next we saw sea lions, seals and polar bears. Seeing the seals and sea lions reminded me of one of my favorite family vacations as a child. We went to the Oregon coast. On this trip we went to the Sand Dunes and rode these huge bus dune buggies. We went to Newport and saw Ripleys Believe or Not Museum and a Wax Museum and an aquarium that is on a glass bottom boat. But specifically I remember we went to the Sea Lion Caves. I remember going down an elevator for what seemed like a long time and coming out into this HUGE cave and just being overcome by the extreme loudness in there. There were thousands of sea lions in this cave and they were all making a huge racket. Seeing the sea lions and seals swimming around, so graceful was quite fun. The kids loved the colors of the water, and seeing them swim.

Even though it’s almost October we are still reaching the high 80’s here in Albuquerque. Yesterday we got to 89 degrees. By Noon the kids were getting tired, and we were getting hot and ready to go home. We didn't get to see the Koala Bears or the Rainforest exhibit. We'll have to do that part first next time. Even though we didn't see everything the kids still had a great time!
Posted by ABQ Mom :: 9/27/2005 02:37:00 PM :: 7 Comments:

Post a Comment

---------------------------------------