Zoo Boys

Back to our Friday...we went to the KC Zoo after eating our lunch and the library. We were thrilled when we got in for about half-price: they cut the rates because of the temperature that morning, but by the time we got there at 1 pm, the warm-weather exhibits were open because it had heated up sufficiently. We first headed for the Africa exhibit, and decided to take the tram there. When we told Blane we were going to ride on a little train, he screamed, "NO! I DON'T WANT TO!" We have no idea what bothered him so much---but, too bad, dude! He reluctantly got on, and later realized that it wasn't so bad.

We first stopped at these large plains that were supposed to contain a variety of African antelope (gazelles, oryxes, kudus) and cheetahs? At least, that's what the sign said. Scott and I were a little concerned, because the simple electric fence, ditch and small wooden fence certainly did not appear cheetah-proof (um...I'm no expert, but can't they jump?!) Surely we misread the sign...why would they put cheetahs in with the antelope (poor babies!)? For what it's worth, we did not see any cheetahs prowling about. When we turned around and looked at these beautiful cranes, Seth exclaimed, "I'm glad God made the world, because if He didn't, we wouldn't have any zoos!"

Next we crossed a big suspension bridge into another area. Blane saw a "crashed airplane" that they set up for decoration and later declared that this was one of his favorite parts of the zoo. The best part of that area was the silverback gorilla. He had a very odd smell--not at all the manure smell you expect from an animal pen. It was really pungent, almost like body odor, but certainly not a human smell. Anyway, that was a fascinating experience for all of us. We eventually wound around to the chimpanzees (as you can imagine, this was a highlight, especially for one of our children--can you guess which one?) Fortunately, there was an enclosed viewing area, shielded by poop-deflecting glass. They were amazingly fun to watch. The oldest chimp knuckled over to the window and sat up, looking straight into Scott's eyes with great curiosity. Then he gave Scott that chimp "grin" and walked away. A few minutes later, one threw himself against the glass, playing around, I guess. The display talked about how chimps and humans share 99% of their DNA. As we walked away, Scott commented, "There is a big difference in that 1%!" That's something I never thought of, but...how very true!

We stopped after rhinos, hippos and zebras for a snack break, for which Seth prayed, "Thank you, God, for the zoo and all the animals You made!" We later took the tram back to the Austrailia area (no fuss from Blane this time). We saw the orangutans (did you know they come from Borneo and Sumatra? I always thought they were African), the tigers, the red pandas and the kangaroos. The kangaroos were loose on a lawn...again, a little big of a creep-out factor, just not as much as the cheetahs. They were all sleeping, so it didn't matter anyway.

We wrapped up our day with the kids playing at the Discovery Barn and the Climbing Tree (a big model of a baobab tree with a slide inside). I walked over to see the sea lion show, but it was forgettable.

On the way home, we stopped at Old McDonald's for an early "dinner", because we had promised Seth that we would go as part of his birthday celebration. We rented "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" from the Red Box there and finished out our day watching that. Whew! We were tired when we all went to bed last night!