Bye Chicken!

Thanks to a post on Kristen's blog, and a comment by Holli, I got the chance to go to the Dallas Zoo yesterday with Holli and Faith. I thought it was very nice to be included on Faith's first trip to the zoo. I got to be the navigator since I actually know how to get to the zoo without a map. It was kind of nice to be a passenger for a change. I usually find myself driving most of the time. So on the way to the zoo I could savor the scenery (even though there really isn't much to savor) and bark out driving orders (and therefore get to act like I know what I'm doing for once). I have to say that like many of you I am somewhat ambivalent about zoos because I like animals so much. I think it's good that some of the more endangered animals are being bred and kept in zoos, but I don't like to see animals in small cages or enclosures.

We survived the parking lot (barely) :), got Faith situated in the stroller, and then headed for the entrance. The first stop was the "Lemur Lookout". Faith was hoisted up so she could see the lemurs, and she uttered the first of many "Mama look" s and "See? See?" One of the poor ringtail lemurs was missing a chunk of fur from the middle of his tail for some reason. After checking out the lemurs for a little bit, Faith was put back into her stroller so we could move along. She didn't seem too happy about leaving the animals and started to cry a little bit but she soon got over it. The next stop was to pose for pictures in front of the flamingo pond. It was somewhat rough going in that the other people around us seemed totally oblivious to the fact that I was trying to take a picture, and so they just kind of strolled into frame without a care in the world. Maybe Holli can post the uncropped photo with 'Pedro' in it as proof.

While we were looking at the Cotton Headed Tamarins (really cute, tiny little monkeys), there was a father holding his young daughter up to see the monkeys better right behind us. Dad hoisted up daughter, whereupon she remarked, "Daddy, you're hurting my tee-tee!" And yes, I laughed. Luckily Dad had a sense of humor too. Holli is convinced that she scared away the spider monkey since he left not long after she and Faith started staring at it, and the other one would turn his head to avoid eye contact. Maybe it was the anti-spider vibes.

I held Faith for awhile as we walked along some of the larger enclosures that had monkeys in them. Holli is not lying when she says that Faith can get a little heavy after awhile, although I think our definitions of 'awhile' may be slightly different. I don't think 30 seconds is what Holli means by 'awhile'. We posed in front of a large monkey enclosure with some monkeys that would swing across the top of the cage. Holli tried to get a shot of Faith and me with a monkey in the background, but the monkey didn't want to cooperate! By this point Faith had gotten over crying after leaving each animal, I guess she knew now that there were plenty of other animals to see. She started saying "Bye ____" to whatever animal we were leaving. My favorites were "Bye element" (elephant) and "Bye chicken" (a bald eagle). I think the elephants and giraffes were big hits. She also identified the attack squirrel that seemed to be following us through the zoo waiting to pounce as soon as we turned our backs. Holli chose not to teach Faith how to say "Dik-Dik" for some reason. Holli tried to communicate with the lion by staring into his eyes. I'm not sure if she was successful, perhaps she can reveal the answer on her blog.

We tried to go see the gorillas, only to discover that they are not currently on display. A gorilla escaped from the Dallas Zoo about a year and a half ago, and I don't think they've been on display since then since they are trying to revamp the enclosure. We didn't really have time to see everything that was there, but that probably worked out for the best. I think we were there about 2 and a half hours, and as we headed for the exit I realized that I was extremely tired. Something about being outside in warm temperatures and crazy winds really takes it out of me. Carrying Faith around some also probably helped add to my fatigue. Faith definitely likes being caried more than riding in the stroller - she did NOT want to get back into it at the end of the day! She did the leg lock trick to try and avoid being strapped in to the stroller. Overall I thought Faith did pretty well considering that she had no nap. I thought it was a very fun outing, and I think everyone else did too. Holli can correct me if I am wrong!

The post-zoo entertainment consisted of watching "I Have Tourette's But Tourette's Doesn't Have Me" and an interesting movie called Last Night which is about a group of people that only have 6 hours to live. It was very impressive that Holli found a movie that I hadn't heard of before! We also watched some MSNBC Reports shows that featured the dulcet tones of Rita Cosby and the comedy stylings of 'Special Guy 29'. I'm a little worried about Rita, I think she may be ill.

Not sure what's going on with this lemur's tail!

The tiger was pretty far away

This little guy is a klipspringer, and he stayed frozen in this pose for a very long time!

Chimps Up, Ho's Down

We all need our alone time

A couple of monkeys and an elephant