It was about 95 degrees today. A little better than yesterdays 100 degrees. And thankfully, this is Kansas, so it was breezy. Otherwise, I may well have died.
My camera was dead, so I snapped some pics on the iphone. Had Hannah with me, and she did great. Our class had lots of parents along, so I didn't really officially have a group to take care of, a bunch of us just kind of hung together.
We always go LEFT at the zoo....away from the petting zoos lol. So our first stop today was the Chimpanzees. Had to get a pic of the kiddos with the statue:
The chimps were so cute, and there was a BABY one which I just loved.
I can't remember the exact touring order of things to be honest. We did a lot. We rode the tram. We didn't get to the gorillas, tigers, or the jungle (thank God we missed the jungle. I hate the jungle. Why doesn't the zoo have like an Antarctic walk through? I would like that).
One of the highlights of the day was feeding the giraffes. That was so fun.
Hannah fed them once and got quickly intimidated by their fast and grabby tongues.
This guy was ornery. I tried to take a picture with him, and he tried to lick my face. Thankfully I moved and squealed simultaneously and quickly. No giraffe kisses for me!
See little blondie there? one of Brooke's classmates. He "got her" several times. It was so funny.
Brooke feeding the ornery one.
Right after I took this picture, I took a moment to pet the giraffe too. Then I was told that we are not supposed to pet them. Apparently it was okay for them to lick us, but not for us to touch them. Hmmm.
We hopped on the Zoo Tram (another first for us, even though we've been to the zoo lots of times).
Hannah and Brooke both LOVE the turtles.
Another statue picture. I do not know what Hannah is doing.
We had lunch around 1130. The kids had box lunches from the school, and the parents/siblings brought their own. The drink with the box lunches was milk. In 95 degree weather? It was cold, but ugh. I can't even think about drinking milk if I'm in the heat. Grody. So I just gave Brooke a bottled water.
We had lunch around 1130. The kids had box lunches from the school, and the parents/siblings brought their own. The drink with the box lunches was milk. In 95 degree weather? It was cold, but ugh. I can't even think about drinking milk if I'm in the heat. Grody. So I just gave Brooke a bottled water.
While we were eating, there were geese nearby. Of course there were geese nearby, they are everywhere. Momma geese. Daddy geese. Baby geese. Toddler geese. We had one goose who kept coming over to investigate, and the booger got so close to one of the boys, he snatched the bun right off his sandwich! A few minutes after that, I look back behind the benches that we were sitting on (they backed up to some trees/landscaping area) and saw some kind of rodent. I thought it was too big to be a mouse, so maybe a rat? Whatever it was, he was scurrying around under the benches. Grody.
After lunch all the kids were begging to go to the playground. They have a climber/play area over near the Gorilla exhibit. We trekked that way (and saw lions, meerkats, and zebras along the way). I did not enjoy the playground, because there was of course a zillion school-aged kids running around on it like maniacs, with my little three year old munchkin up there trying to hang too. Fortunately, she negotiated the big kids like a pro and had some moments of help from Brooke and her friends.
At this point, it was about 1245 and it was HOT. All the kids had rec'd their second coating of sunscreen, but they were all so red just from being hot. I rubbed some ice over their faces and necks to help them cool down. I kept looking at Hannah thinking she was getting sunburned, so I put a third application of sunscreen on her. Later, once we got out of the heat, I realized that she just turns red when she is hot, not because she is burning.
We made our way back to the elephants because it was time for "Elephant Training!" It was inside....and it was stinky! But it was so funny! They gave the elephants a bath (with a fire hose!).
One elephant painted a picture! (And the girl helping had on an Iowa State tshirt!).
After each brush stroke, she was rewarded with a few chunks of fruit/veggies...which she eats 150 pounds of PER DAY!
She took a bow, and then went for her turn to get a bath. The other elephant came over to start getting a pedicure. (Which is elephant terminology for getting a TON of dead skin scraped off the bottom of their feet. Grody).
After about 30 minutes of fun with the elephants, we started our way back to the front of the zoo. We hung out in the shade and had fun with the obnoxious geese and their babies, and checked out the swans and the fish.
After about 30 minutes of fun with the elephants, we started our way back to the front of the zoo. We hung out in the shade and had fun with the obnoxious geese and their babies, and checked out the swans and the fish.
I don't know what Hannah is doing here, but apparently she was hot.
Five hours at the zoo. Lots of kids. Lots of heat.... really turned out to be a pretty good day. The kids all behaved great, Hannah was a trooper and sooooo good (getting back in the stroller when i asked her, not throwing fits, etc). It was a lot funner than I thought it was going to be!
But yes. I am tired :)
If I get a pick of the giraffe trying to lick me, I'll post it later...lol.
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