Alice had been asking to go to the zoo for a while, but I had been putting it off. The NC zoo is really spread out, so it's a lot of walking for just a bit of animal viewing. We're at a rough age with the kids right now because they're too big for strollers or carrying, but are not quite capable of walking long distances yet. Also, I hate crowds of people and the zoo is full of crowds of people blocking your view of the stupid animal you just walked a mile to see. So, I had been forestalling Alice for a long time, but I might have accidentally said at one point that we might go after my birthday, and she had lately been reminding me that it was now after my birthday. If you know anything about Alice, you know that once you enter into a contract with her, it is unbreakable and non-negotiable and any qualifiers such as "might" have been stricken from the record. And she remembers all the details, especially anything in her favor.
So, at last, the perfect day arrived. It was going to be cool (high of 70) and there was a chance of rain. This was perfect for us, because we do not mind getting wet and we hoped it would thin the crowds. So on this dreary Saturday morning, we headed to the zoo.
The drive is an hour and a half, and I had lots of opportunities to do math problems with Alice along the way as she continually asked how much longer until we would be there. I would check the GPS, then convert it. For example, if there were 28 minutes left, I would say it was two ten-minute timers, plus two four-minute timers. At last, we arrived.
The first super fun thing was taking a train-bus from the parking lot to the other end of the zoo. The kids loved it.
One of the main things Alice wanted to see were the giraffes, but we couldn't find them anywhere in their designated area. Just zebras.
We did bring our stroller, thinking we could use it to have the kids take turns riding. It turns out they had a better idea.
The lions were posing nicely for us, up on a rock.
Here, the kids are making their "lion roars" as directly by the photographer, Zac.
The kids loved all the animal statues. More than the actual animals.
Here were are at the chimpanzee enclosure, watching a video of chimpanzees rather than the actual ones. (In our defense, we wanted to eat our sandwiches in an out-of-the way place, since you're not really supposed to be picnicking).
The kids watched the baboons for about 30 seconds. Again, it is frustrating to visit this zoo because there is so much walking to get from place to place, and then the viewing areas aren't even that good and our kids just weren't interested in looking at the animals for very long. Simon kept telling me he wanted to go in the animal enclosures. I think all the rocks and fallen down trees looked really fun to him.
We watched the rhinos for a few minutes (even although Alice whined the whole time).
Here are the kids climbing elephant statues rather than looking at the real elephants.
The elephants were up really close to the fence at one point, and pretty cool to see. Whenever I go to the zoo now, it reminds me of going on rides through Etosha National Park in Namibia, where you could drive all day in hopes of spotting elephants or lions or rhinos. So even though we have to walk a lot at this zoo, it still seems too easy in some ways, like we haven't earned it. (For the record, I personally love walking. It's just a hassle with the kids.)
After the Africa section, we decided to take the bus thingy to the other end of the park, rather than trying to walk all the way through the middle. We'd sprung for a year membership to the zoo, since it includes free admission to this zoo, a few other places in NC including the aquariums, and also free admission to partner zoos in other states (like the one in Columbus!). So we decided this will be our year for animal viewing. Planning to come multiple times in one year takes some of the pressure off and helps me to not stress about "missing" things.
In the North America section, Alice really wanted to see the polar bear, but we could not find him anywhere. We did find these seals. Or were they sea lions? Otters? Walruses? Who knows. Big swimmy thingies.
At least the kids got to have fun playing in a pretend ice-cave for a few minutes.
Then, it was on to the real attraction of the zoo: the kid play area. We'd seen this on our last trip two years ago, but not until the end when we were all exhausted and the zoo was about to close. Really, we should just see two animals then come here every time. The kids had a blast.
We hadn't brought suits for the kids, but they really wanted to play in the water. So we made them wait until the end, knowing we had a change of clothes in the van.
The kids played here for a long time--probably at least an hour. They could have stayed forever, but because it was a cool day and Simon's non-swim diaper was about to explode from absorbing so much water, we got the kids out and changed them into dry clothes. Even although it was about 4pm and neither one had had a nap, they were still going strong, so we decided to check out the nearby animals.
When the kids were finally at their breaking point and the zoo was about to close, we headed out.
The both passed out within five minutes of leaving the zoo.
Unfortunately, Alice woke up and really had to go potty (even although we went before we left to zoo) so we stopped to let her go when we were just 15 minutes from home. Then Simon woke up, and was really upset that I couldn't hold him. Usually when I try to make a video of him crying, it makes him stop. Not this time.
But, all in all, it was a successful trip. The zoo was not crowded and the kids had fun. We didn't see a lot of animals, which means we have something to look forward to when we go back next time!
