KING THINGS: The Zoo (#7 on our list)

photo from paulabecker.com

The lovely Osenga family left us some passes to the zoo, so on Friday morning, we got there bright and early right as it opened. We were hoping to beat the heat, but since the sun rises here at like 5:30 am (no kidding at all), it felt like noon already. Steamy. Very steamy.

But, of course, since we were in a new place, we were able to overlook the discomfort of sweat running down our backs to see a few monkeys and zebras. That’s exactly what we did. We saw a really great meerkat exhibit, a few zebras, and some other grassy-plains animals that are similar to antelopes but I don’t remember their names. We watched some monkeys hanging in trees. I’m sure they have a more formal name than monkey, but all primates are monkeys to me.

We saw a sleeping tiger and some really beautiful, blue, Brazilian birds biding on a branch (really they were just sitting, but I needed to use another B word.) The birds looked like the birds in the movie Rio that we recently saw, so Sam began to jump around squawking and hopping in a way he was sure was the way to communicate with them. It didn’t seem to work.

Just when we thought we couldn’t make it much further in the heat, we were rescued by the cool darkness of the amphibian/reptile/all-the-creepiest-animals-created-by-God exhibit. This was the kids’ favorite part because of all the cool spiny and slimy creatures contained by the thankfully very thick glass. It was my favorite part because I got to watch them ooh and ahh over so many unique animals while enjoying the 70 degree temps. I also enjoyed it because when I see the intricate designs and patterns on the snakes and frogs and lizards, I truly marvel at God’s limitless creativity. Down the littlest detail, his inspired designs were filling that building. We saw these teeny tiny frogs, no bigger than an almond that were metallic blue and filled with poison. Their predators know not to mess with the blue frogs. We saw polka-dotted turtles and a 15 foot python. We saw a very scary 2-inch arachnid that was called the Trinidad Chevron Spider “considered to be very aggressive.” Hmm. Disturbing? And next to the Black Widow/Brown Recluse display there was a warning that read, “Be very careful when reaching into dark, damp places.” Really? Is that a necessary warning? Doesn’t that go without saying?

After being in there for a while, I started to get all skittish and jumpy. I knew the animals were contained, but at one point, my camelback valve brushed against my arm and I practically jumped 2 feet. There was also a section for Tropical River Animals. Needless to say, I won’t be swimming in any El Salvadorian or Honduran rivers anytime ever.

One of the funniest parts of that experience was watching Naomi. She has grown into such a loud little person. She talks non-stop, yes. That is a given. But she also talks so loudly. When she is even moderately excited, she does not have an inside voice. And at every single window, she would loudly yell, “Oh! Ooh! Look at this!” and “Oh! Ooh! C ‘mere guys!” at a very, very high decibel. Even when I was across the room, I could hear her yelling. I must have told her 25 times to talk quietly and use her inside voice. Oh wait, that was her inside voice. Must be the product of having to be heard over 2 older brothers.

After we were done there, we went to the Petting Zoo. It really should have been called the Petting Goat Yard because those were the only animals available for petting. Every other animal was behind a fence. But the goats were really cute and docile. There were kids all over the place man-handling these goats and they seemed to be fine with it. They also had these brushes lying on the ground for the kids to use to brush the goats’ coats. There were your other typical petting zoo animals: donkeys, llamas, wallaby’s, baby jaguars. Wait, no. Why were those in there? I don’t know. They weren’t available for petting, but they were in this farmyard-type exhibit. It was actually the baby jaguars first day to be on display. They were 3 months old and so cute as the wrestled each other and tried to claw the trees.

After the “petting zoo”, I bought the kids some cotton candy (pink not blue because Jude was outvoted) and made the kids share one bag. Jude got to hold the bag and distribute it to his brother and sister because he acquiesced to getting pink. We sat in the shade on an amphitheater and watched a show about native Tennessean animals. It included a skunk, possum, snake, hawk, and turtle, and the kids got to sit real close.

After the show, we had a quick lunch and decided to head home, even though we only seen about 1/3 of the zoo. It was just too hot and the kids were worn out. On our way out, we saw a flyer about a special event the next night, in which they keep the zoo open 2 extra hours. Perfect. So, we headed back on Saturday around 5 and by 6, it was starting to cool down. I really wish the zoo were open late more often because it was so much more pleasant at that time of day. We played on the playground for an hour. This playground is truly amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. Then we headed to see more animals and ride the carousel and train. The train line ended up being an hour long so we got to ride the carousel and the kids jumped in the bounce houses. Hot dogs for dinner and another round through the reptile house made for a very fun evening.