The Lee Family: Dinosaurs at the Dallas Zoo

We spent the day at the Dallas Zoo so we could visit the dinosaurs and see the Dinosaurs Live! Show. It was a warm and muggy day, but typical for June. Olivia took over as the "map reader" while she sat in her stroller and sucked her thumb, while Sofia helped decide where to go. We did our usual route and visited the Giants of the Savannah. Of course, before we saw any of the real animals, the girls had to climb all over the metal elephants. It's always a huge favorite of both girls and they love to climb on each elephant and pretend they are riding them. We usually stop on the way to and from the real animals to climb on the metal elephants. After a bit of fun, we continued on to the African animal section. We watched the elephants and zebra for a while before going over and feeding the giraffes. It's always the girls' favorite thing to do and Olivia is half afraid of that long black tongue that sticks out and grabs for the lettuce pieces, while Sofia loves it and usually ends up with extra pieces of lettuce from kids who are too afraid to get close to that tongue.

After visiting and feeding the elephants, we headed over to the other side of the zoo so we could be on time for the Dinosaurs Live! show at 2pm. Thankfully, Sofia loves to push the stroller with Olivia in it, so I was able to just walk and enjoy the zoo! We arrived at the stage, found a bench and settled in for the show. Olivia grabbed a snack so she could eat a bit while the show started. The man who introduced the dinosaurs was this great Australian guy who was funny and engaging and the kids loved it. Sofia was completely glued! She even asked that the dinosaurs were, in fact, not alive since they really were excellent puppets! After about 15 minutes, the Australian guy, the dinosaur leader, asked for a volunteer and picked Sofia! She was so excited! She ran up to the stage and was introduced by the the dinosaur leader and went along with the whole thing! It was so much fun to watch and she was an excellent volunteer and I'm so glad I made a video of it! It was so much fun! Sofia returned to Olivia and I after she'd run from a hungry dinosaur and pulled an infected tooth from another one! She said it was "so fun"! The show ended and we were able to go "pet" the dinosaurs backstage. They were able to pet the triceratops and hold a baby dinosaur. It was really cool and the girls loved it. Even up close the dinosaurs looked real!

After the dinosaurs, we headed on our way toward the top of the zoo and the train, where more dinosaurs were set up. Along the way, the girls cooled off with one of the misters, which was much needed on the hot, humid summer day. We made it to the other dinosaurs and watched the baryonx "eat" fish and then the girls dug for dinosaur bones. They also found a dinosaur nest full of dinosaur eggs and played in it for a bit before we headed down to see the T Rex and the girls pretended they were being chased. We continued on and watched the end of the Birds of Flight show, which is actually my favorite. After the end of the show, we were able to visit with Sofia's very favorite animal - the owl. It really is a beautiful and majestic bird!

From there we headed over to the kids' area so the girls could splash around in the little river. They both had their swimsuits on under their dresses, so they were well prepared. They had a great time playing and splashing in the water and cooling off. After they were done, they changed into dry clothes and we headed to the car. They were both snoozing after about 10 minutes. What a fun visit!

Riding one of the dinosaurs by the entrance