Trip to the Zoo

On Thursday, we went to the Dallas Zoo with a sweet family from our church. I have to admit that I have always thought that the Fort Worth Zoo was way better than the Dallas zoo. But, this trip totally changed my opinion! The Dallas Zoo has done a ton of renovations and has added some really cool attractions. We really enjoyed our visit and would love to go back!

The gorilla was in rare form on this particular day. He was giving the kids fist bumps through the glass and pounding on the glass. He was staring right at us - I've never seen a gorilla act the way he was acting. I was really thankful for that thick glass divider! Drew was cool with it at first...
But he came running to his Daddy when the gorilla did this! He stood far away and started saying, "No no, Monkey! No, no!" Ha ha!
We rode the monorail and the kids really loved seeing the animals from above their habitats. We even got to see some animals that you can't see while walking. Very cool! I will say, however, that I was terrified for most of the ride that Drew was going to take a nose dive right off of the front of the monorail car. He kept leaning forward and pointing - oh, my word, I am pretty sure that I earned a few more gray hairs during that experience. I don't even want to know what my blood pressure was... In hindsight, I should have made him sit on my lap. Not the best decision on my part... Live and learn, I guess!

Clayton loved having another boy to climb on rocks with :)

They have changed all of the "Wilds of Africa" exhibits. They have an area now where you are face to face with the giraffes and you can pay $5 to feed them lettuce. The kids thought that was super fun!

Drew is such a poser!

They have a cool playground area, too. Drew said, "Awwww, egg broken..." in a sad voice when we walked up. ;)

For the grand finale of the day, the kids got to ride on a camel! That was another new attraction that they all really enjoyed. :)
I will say that there was a full on toddler tantrum when Drew didn't get to ride the camel. :( Man, oh man, it was B.A.D. - probably his worst ever! By that time he was really tired, and not getting to be a "big kid" pushed him over the edge. I had to just ignore the fact that he was losing his mind in his stroller as everyone around us stared. Parenting is so humbling at times, isn't it???

All in all, we had a really great day! The weather was perfect, it wasn't crowded at all (especially considering that it was Spring Break!), and I was very impressed with how much the Dallas Zoo has changed since our last visit. If you are like me and have written off the Dallas Zoo, give them another chance. :)