what does a lion say? rooaaaarrrr!

The Dallas Zoo is a pretty good one, I think.

My 17 month old boys really enjoyed it. We were there from 9:30 to 12:00. When Brad got home from work, he asked, "Did they actually look at animals and stuff and watch things?" They did! I took them alone and if you are interested in reading about the child leashes I used, you can go to that post.

Anyway, here are a few tips:

Things I did wrong:
1) dressed them in socks and sneakers. I imagined they'd be walking more. Crocs would have been perfect then they could do a little puddle splashing at the children's zoo.
2) didn't bring swim diapers or change of clothes. These weren't needed, but with the heat, I wish they could have played in the water!
3) wore flip flops.  I did a LOT of walking and the balls of my feet were feeling it. I should have worn sneakers.
4) didn't use bug spray.  We got just a couple of bug bites. Not bad but I had the bug spray in the van, just didn't think we'd need it!
5) took too many pics of the backs of the boys' heads!  I'll let that one slide though since it was tough enough just to take pictures!  And I can describe their faces the entire time...."whoa....what is that thing?"
6) didn't take any pictures with me in them.  I promise I was at the zoo with them. Maybe we should've stopped in the photo booths for a few group shots or asked a stranger to take a quick one.

Things I did right:
1) used my AAA membership to get my $12 ticket down to $9.  My kids were free. Parking was $7.
2) soaked their hats in the water feature at the children's zoo.  The boys were happy to wear those hats the rest of the time. I think it kept them a little cooler than without and I wouldn't be surprised if the temperature was already near 100 by the time we left.
3) packed a water and cracker pack for each of us.
4) brought the sunblock with us into the zoo.  We reapplied several times.
5) didn't purchase any of the overpriced souvenirs or snacks.
6) shamelessly made lots of animal sounds in front of strangers.

So it's a tie!

They loved the mole rats behind the glass.

The giant rabbits

Petting the goats

Watching the huge goldfish swim

They were fascinated by the monkey swinging from branch to branch and some actually made the monkey sounds we've been working on at home!

They saw lots of birds

a tiger

a lion family

elephants being fed and bathed

and giraffes!  This was my favorite!  They were amazing as was the setting. It is always so striking to see these giants!

We really were this close as we watched others feed the giraffes!

We saw lots more but that's it for animal pics!

The boys also enjoyed some stone alligators and elephants!

The boys passed out as soon a we pulled out of the parking lot. But it was lunch time. After a 20 minute drive, we pulled into chick fil a. We ate up and shared an ice cream cone for dessert.

Then I let the boys play. I didn't want them to think the 20 minutes in the car was their only nap. They needed to get the last bit of energy out so they could have a nice long nap.  I was surprised they climbed up so high on their own. They were proud!

Yes, I had to climb up to get them.