Zoobilation

Last Wednesday (Sept. 10), our zoo had its annual Zoobilation event, which is a big "party" for zoo members. We had it marked on the calendar a month or so before and had planned on going, but then we had been evacuated for Gustav the week before. When we returned from evacuating, I can honestly say I had no desire to leave the house for anything! So we had been back since Saturday and Wednesday rolled around and I kept saying I'd just play it by ear. A lot of the things on the agenda sounded enticing, but I was really dragging my feet at the thoughts of heading out. So, the boys took their nap and while they were napping, I figured 'why not'? So, after naps, we headed out to the zoo and ended up having a great time! The only bummer was that it started at 3 and we didn't get there until 5, so we only had two hours to cram it all in. We definitely could have used the extra time.

So the first thing we hit were all of the close up animal encounters when we first walked in. They had a bunch of the animals out of their cages, with the help of the zoo employees and volunteers, and you could pet almost all of them and just get closer than you normally would be able to. It really was pretty cool and Tyler thought it was great. And of course he touched all sorts of icky things that I wouldn't, but he is a boy after all, so I am not too shocked!

The first thing he pet was some sort of African Hedgehog: (I have to admit, I kind of thought the hedgehog was cute. Tyler said he felt pokey...)
And the next was some sort of skink. I've never seen a skink before. I'd heard of them, but had no idea that they were big lizard looking thingies (yes, that is a very technical term, I know.).
The bottom two fingers are Tyler's petting that icky looking skink:
And we saw all sorts of birds...the parrot, parakeet, and a macaw. The parrot was doing all sorts of tricks. He was fun to watch and Tyler kept laughing.
And then the icky of all ickies...a snake. I couldn't believe the female zoo worker could stand there and hold it like that. Oh, it makes me shiver to think of it. I hate snakes.
But Tyler didn't mind, of course. He just sat there and petted it over and over. He loves snakes (this wasn't his first time petting one either).
And then they just let a great big tortoise walk around (under supervision, of course) and let all the kids touch it. Tyler could have chased this thing around all day. It was hilarious. He loved it.
At one point they had to tell Tyler not to press on the poor tortoise so hard. I think he'd have jumped on him and rode him if he could have.
And our brand new Insectarium in town (which we haven't been to yet--it's on the list of things to do!) had its Bugmobile there and they had some of their icky bugs there for people to see. They had millipedes, beatles, some enormous ants, and this bug called a walking stick. Check it out, that thing is as big as that person's hand!! And they just sit there and hold it like it's no big deal. Ugh, I don't think I've ever seen a bug this big. It was hard to believe it was an insect and not an animal! And of course Tyler jumped right in and pet the dang bug too. Yuck.
Then we hit the sea lion exhibit. It is a big hit. The sea lions have only been back at the zoo for about six months. They had to evacuate the sea lions for Katrina and it took them almost 2 1/2 years to get their home fixed so they could come back. I'm so glad they are back. It is so fun to watch them.
Even little Sam was enthralled by the sea lions. He loved watching them.
But he broke away long enough to give me an adorable smile. He was having a great time too, even though he got a little bit sunburned!
And we had to finish things off by seeing these beautiful friends,
and one of our great big white alligators.
We also made some crafts and rode the Merry-go-Round (Sam was a little unsure what to think of it), and rode the Swamp Train. Not bad for a free event at the zoo! Garrett even got to meet up with us for the last hour. So I'm glad I decided to take the kids out (they were probably more than ready to do something more exciting, it was just me feeling a little bit of post-evacuation exhaustion). And I'm sure we'll do it next year--we love having a zoo membership. We'll just have to make sure we go a little earlier next time!

PS--check back in a couple of days for a fun Halloween give-a-way!!