The Sooner State: Day Six

It was zoo day! In the past when we've gone, we've had to go pretty early as per Eric's dad's request. We weren't in any kind of hurry and got out probably around 10. We arrived at the zoo probably a bit before 11 and I quickly realized why Eric's dad had us go as early as we did. We had to park in Timbuktoo and walk to the zoo. It was a little bittersweet being at the zoo without Eric's dad. Every time we've gone to Nebraska, the zoo was what Dad did with us.

Because of our zoo membership here in Utah, we got a bit of a discount at the Henry Doorly Zoo. Yay! The kids were really good to sit in one place and wait while Eric went and got our tickets and paid.

We first decided to hit the Aquarium. Their aquarium is pretty cool and it's always been one of my favorite places in that zoo.

{...This is the gesture he uses when he wants the dogs to come to him, he was sad to discover it didn't work for the fishes...}

There was this really cool effect on the floor. The lights rippled like water when you moved through it. Nate and Jace thought it was kinda cool - Ailey was a little afraid of it.

It must've been Shaylyn's lucky day because as we were leaving the aquarium, there was a worker with the fur of a tiger on display. Shaylyn's never been able to be up close and personal to a tiger for obvious reasons, but she was excited to be able to 'pet' one.

We then headed over to the butterfly exhibit. I'm not sure why we went there or which kid was anxious to see it, but go we did. While we were there, there was a lady who noticed us and our crew and asked us if we were going to ride the rides. We hadn't really talked about it so I asked Eric and he didn't really know. She then gave us wristbands for everyone in our family so that if we decided to do the rides, we wouldn't have to pay. She is a member and gets a bunch every time she goes to the zoo and just saves them up. I was so thankful for this lady, I don't think she even realized what it meant to me that she'd go out of her way to offer up 8 of her tickets. She gave me faith in people again.

{...There was a reason I took a picture of this butterfly, but I don't remember now. If anyone can read my mind - go ahead and tell me....}

After an expensive lunch, we hit another exhibit and I can't remember what exactly it is, but it has a few different climates and animals...

We then hit the hot desert and it is brutally humid in this enclosure, but we got to see some cute things.

We next hit the monkeys/apes. We were pleased to see a newborn with her mommy. I thought the newborn was cute because he/she had wild hair like Ailey had when she was tiny. Everyone else thought it was funny to see because the baby was on her mommy's back when Mommy sat down right next to the glass and squooshed her baby.

We then got a little lost, or so the kids thought and so they thought they should look at the map enclosed in some sort of rock thing...

While walking around, we ran across these interesting art pieces. There was a name for them though I don't remember it now. The kids thought they were hilarious.

I can't resist the Polar Bears...no idea why.

We then headed to the carousel and let the kids ride and then we got in line for the train. Holy cow! It was super crowded and we waited for probably a half hour to even ride.

Then we finally got on the train.

And only a couple minutes into the ride, Ailey was OUT!!!

{...Sorry about this shot, but it's the best I could do with the camera in one hand and the sleepy girl in the other...}

We then went to see the big cats. We had planned to watch them do the feeding, but lost track of time. So we made sure we at least went to look at the tigers before we left. They actually had a white tiger at their zoo. Super awesome and I'm not even a huge fan of tigers.

The zoo was getting ready to close but we told the kids if they were good we'd stop at the gift shop on the way out. The kids had done awesome the whole time and never once asked for anything. So they definitely deserved to go to the store. It took probably another 30 - 45 minutes to get out of there, but they all left happy. Eric even got some carmels that he thought were good and he was a happy camper.

We got back to Grandma and Grandpa's with dinner waiting for us and we were all ready to eat. We all slept really well that night.