The Lee Family: Olivia Visits the Dallas Zoo

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Olivia Visits the Dallas Zoo

Today after we dropped Sofia off at school, Olivia and I returned to the house briefly to pack snacks, water and load the stroller for a day at the Dallas Zoo. I figured since Sofia and I were able to enjoy the zoo with her class, it would be fun to have a little solo time with Olivia and the animals. The night before I asked her which animals she really wanted to see and listed off the options. She chose snakes! I guess the snake "in her baby monitor" is still making an impression! We arrived and headed into the zoo shortly after they opened. Before making it to the snakes, we stopped and watched the river otters swim around and also visited the tiger enclosure, but it was so large that we couldn't see them. We continued to the snake and amphibian house and it was actually very interesting and so many of the really poisonous snakes are absolutely beautiful. After the snakes, we visited the alligators which were enclosed in an indoor sunken room with a little lake - it was a little pitiful. But, she enjoyed looking at them and we read up on what they eat and how they live in nature.

From there, Olivia wanted to ride on the little train that is across the walkway in the former zebra and elephant holding areas. The train drove around a little loop once and then we were out and walking toward the ant eaters and Galapagos Tortoises. From there, I could tell Olivia was running out of steam, but we decided to visit the tigers once more and actually saw one of them chewing on a large bone of some sort. They are such large and beautiful animals but also so slender and long! Incredible!

From there we headed straight to the kid's zoo, since it was getting close to Olivia's nap time and she was getting restless. My favorite part of the zoo - the Savannah, which includes the giraffes, zebras, elephants, and lions would have to wait for another visit. Once at the kid's zoo, Olivia wanted to ride the horse which she loved and then she went straight for the little river to walk and splash in. A large group of preschoolers were there so it was a little crowded in the river, but she found her way and had a lot of fun! She got completely drenched and after about 20 minutes she was done. I gave her the last of the snacks, which we'd been eating along the visit, and we headed for the exit. Olivia saw the merry-go-round and wanted to go, so we bought tickets and loaded up on a horse. She loved it! It was really fun and a great ending to the day. We made it to our car and I stripped Olivia out of her wet clothes and into another set of clothes I brought with us. Then we headed home and she was asleep in less than 5 minutes. A very fun and successful trip to the zoo!

Olivia is ready for a fun day at the zoo!