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About a year and a half ago, I won tickets to the Dallas Zoo from one of my favorite Mom's group, Metroplex Baby & Kids. I had been to the Dallas Zoo on three separate occasions and had not been impressed in the least so we kept putting it off. Well, the tickets expired 12/31/10 and that day just so happened to be BEAUTIFUL, so we decided we would go. Oliver had started coughing and sneezing a little the day before and woke up saying he had a funny taste in his mouth, but otherwise acted fine so we decided to go anyway. Oliver's wellness went downhill in our 25 minute car ride to the zoo. He lost all his energy and he didn't even want to stand, he begged to ride in Miles' stroller (this NEVER happens). Since I brought the Baby Bjorn infant carrier, we decided we would go in and just see how long he would last.
This is the last smile I saw from Oliver all day. The rest of the day he laid back in the stroller and didn't even want any french fries, grapes, gold fish, or fruit strips (which I can ALWAYS get him to eat).
Miles spent most of our trip just like this, so it felt like this trip to the zoo was really just for Clayton and myself. And I have to say, we both LOVED it!
Oliver's favorite animals at the zoo are zebras, so we decided to head over to the Wilds of Africa side of the zoo, to try and spot some zebras.
along the way we saw some cute penguins
And then I was totally caught off guard and impressed by the brand new Giants of the Savannah exhibit. It was SOOO cool! The last time we went to the Dallas Zoo, Jenny the lone elephant was kept in such a tight little spot with only a ball to play with and chain around her foot and it was sooo sad; it was a similar experience with the giraffe. Well I just have to take my hat off to the Dallas zoo for this new exhibit, it is 11 acres of pure wilderness for the animals. They keep one or two elephants up front and let the other five elephants roam.
We watched this elephant walk all the way down to the stream and we really thought (hoped) it was going to take a drink, but it just found a stick and walked away.
Next we stopped for lunch at the Serengeti Grill and this was our scenery. The lion's were sunning on this huge rock right outside one of the glass walls of the restaurant. How cool is that?
There were multiple giraffes and you could get really close
Some people even paid to feed the giraffes.
After we left the Giants of the Savannah exhibit, we were able to see a crocodile actually walk up to the water and get in, that was a really cool experience (although it was somewhat ruined for me by fumbling with my camera trying to get a picture)!
The chimpanzees were playing with a baby and it was SOO cute! Only this guy up front didn't want all the people to watch and he kept throwing dirt and it actually hit Clayton in the eye. I guess those protection instincts run strong through all God's creatures. Thankfully Clayton was okay.
And finally we took the monorail, and Oliver was able to see his favorite animal. There was even a baby who was just about Miles' age. He was pretty cute!
We had only seen a small portion of the zoo at this point and Oliver was DONE, so we left. We had to stop at the store really quick on the way home and Oliver didn't want to come in, but wanted to get out of his seat belt while Clayton fed Miles a bottle. When I came back, Oliver was lying on the floor in the back seat crying. Poor little guy, he really didn't feel good! When we arrived home, he took an hour and a half nap which could have been longer if I would have let it. Hopefully next time we go to the zoo he'll be feeling much better!
