The Lee Family: The Dallas Zoo

Thankfully CK did the majority of the dishes after our Valentine's party, so Saturday morning while he headed out early to go fly, I didn't have too much to clean up. It was a beautiful day out, the girls were playing with their trains and I realized soccer season starts next Saturday. Therefore, I decided we needed to make the most of the day and got the girls dressed, snacks packed and we were out the door to the Dallas Zoo by 10am! We arrived just after it opened and it was already pretty busy. February is "Penguin Days" and each person is only $5 (Olivia was free since she's under 3). We stuck Olivia in the stroller and headed out. For some reason she did not want Sofia pushing her, so I'd pretend I was pushing the stroller while Sofia actually did it. Sofia loved "our little secret" and did a great job piloting the stroller.

We headed for the Sahara and the giraffes since I wanted to have the girls feed them and figured they would be hungry earlier in the morning than later. We arrived and there was a crush of people surrounding two giraffes that were munching on lettuce (sold for $5 for two big leaves) and cracker-like wafers (also sold for the same price). We watched others feed the giraffes when we first arrived and Olivia loved it. She actually was cracking up over how the giraffes would stick out their tongues and tried to mimic them! It was so funny and reminded me of Sofia at this age. Sofia also noticed things like that too and I love that Olivia finds it funny! We bought some wafers and headed into the pack of people to feed the giraffes. I had to hold Olivia so couldn't get any photos of her but luckily one of the giraffes came right over to us. Sofia fed it one of her wafers and Olivia held out hers before throwing it at the giraffe! Not really sure why she did that, but it actually hit the giraffe in the eye! It was funny and mortifying at the same time. We were able to get the wafer and she fed it to the giraffe who stuck it's long tongue out to grab it. Neither girl was phased by the giraffes or their tongues as many of the kids are. From there, we walked over and watched the elephants for a while and tried to find the lions and cheetahs (no luck) before heading to the little cafe for some lunch. The girls both had grilled cheese sandwiches that came with chips and waters and I had a small pre-packaged salad, all of which cost over $40!

After lunch, the girls played on the metal elephants before we headed to the monorail. The monorail tour was really interesting and is always one of my favorites of the zoo trip. It was already after 2pm, well after Olivia's nap time so we headed to the car. As we headed for the exit, it was clearly even more crowded than when we arrived and I was surprised at how many people were arriving as we left. The girls really wanted a "toy" so I let them pick out a stuffed animal. Sofia picked out a "paraketo azul" which is the mascot for Spanish Schoolhouse. Olivia decided on a zebra. After, we headed for the merry-go-around, which they both loved! Such a fun way to end a day at the zoo. Both girls really wanted ice cream, so after loading up in the car we headed next door to McDonald's and both girls got chocolate milk shakes (I don't think they have the swirl soft serve ice cream anymore). Olivia ate a little bit of hers before handing it to me and completely passing out in her car seat. Sofia ate most of hers before she too fell asleep. By the time we arrived home I had two happy, sleepy girls.

We made it!