A day at the Caldwell Zoo!

Jeffrey, Baylynn and myself absolutely love going to our local zoo! We love going so much that we go one to two times a month! It is small, yet perfect! So perfect that it was voted 'america's number one zoo' in 2008!

So yesterday, on such a pretty and slightly cool Saturday, we decided to go to the zoo! As soon as we got there, we found out that everyone else in the city of Tyler had the same great idea! It was crowded! Never, in the 2 years I have been going there has it been that crowded, but we decided that it wasn't going to ruin our fun!

We always start off going right as soon as we get into the gate. This side of the zoo has all of our favorite things piled into one area! It has the 'Texas' area(as if we don't see enough of that on a daily basis! but we still love it!), it has the otters, and it has our favorite attraction of the whole zoo: The beautiful brother and sister pair of white tigers(The male is white with black stripes and the female is white with very very faint brown stripes)! If that was the only thing they had at this zoo, I would be ok with paying just for them! they are gorgeous! I could sit there in awe all day long! They are just simply amazing.

So, when we got to the white tigers, it was super crowded but we wanted to see them, so we waited our turn to push Baylynns stroller right up to the glass so she could see them too. Well as soon as a spot was open, kids would just jump right in, not caring about the little kid in the stroller that wanted to see them too. We sat there patiently, expecting a parent to chime in and tell them to move...but no one ever did. If there is one thing that ticks me off in public, it's a parent who pays no attention to their kid. Be it the screamer in a restaurant, the one that likes to pull everything off the shelves in a store, or the one that has no respect for anyone. Parents need to take charge when it comes to public events! if you are going to be in public with your child, you should really keep your child in line! 

Let me get this straight, i wanted all of those children to see those beautiful tigers as well, but they were all tall enough to see over the stroller, or maybe wait their turn like we had.

After we had finally had enough of trying to let Baylynn see the tigers, we tried to make our way out of the crowd and in the process got bumped and pushed from people(mostly teenagers and kids) trying to get a look at the tigers. Not even an excuse me. Just a push and a shove. Really parents, where are your kids manners?! My 19 month old says 'cue me' when she is trying to get past someone and then says 'Thank you' when she does get past, so, dare i ask why these 8 to 17 year old can't do the same?!

Anyways, we finally got through and went to our next favorite exhibit: the bird walk about. These are parakeets and cocktails that have been trained to feed off of a feed stick. The stick costs $1 which seems outrageous but it is well worth it if you are a bird lover! Sadly, because of all of the people in the zoo, the birds were not very hungry, but just walking in and hearing all their chirps made it worth it! We just stuck our feed sticks in the diaper bag for the next time we go!

My favorite part of that whole exhibit, though, is Sunny. A white Cockatoo! If you bob up and down(it looks silly, but its fun!) he will begin to do the same! I always say 'dance sunny, dance' while doing the 'bob'. Normally, he'll dance! You can even make a loud squawking sound to try and get him to do his loud squawk which makes all of the other birds in the exhibit fly around like crazy! Its funny! Everyone ducks down thinking the birds are going to attack them or something. Sunny has even been known to mock my laugh! Just walking into the bird house thing makes me smile! He can make anyone's day better!

After the birds and Sunny, we made our way to our newest exhibit: the bears! Two black bears made their way to our zoo only about 2 months ago and have settled in just fine! I love being able to be so close to animals that are otherwise known as 'scarey'! The only thing that separates you from the bears is a few inches of glass! They, too, as magnificent creatures!

It was then on to the penguins. It was feeding time and there was a presentation so it was a bit crowded, but luckily we had seen it before and knew what to expect(so we skipped it)! The most amazing thing about these penguins are the love that two of them have for each other. Penguins are among the few animals that have the same belief in relationships as i do: Mate For Life! There is a pair of penguins in there that you will NEVER see separated from one another. when it's feeding time, the male always puts his fin(or as i call it, his arm) around the female mate. It's so sweet to watch how much they actually love each other!

After the penguins, we trudged up hill to the 'African' area where you can find zebras, giraffes, wart hogs, and elephants. There was a presentation with the Elephants and since we were the first ones there and had never seen it, we decided to stay and watch and i am glad we did! It was amazing to watch these huge elephants do simple tasks with just a simple rub on the nose or leg (or whatever the trainer wanted/needed them to move) with a stick and a small treat for every task completed correctly! I have actually heard that the trainers are actually doing health checks when they get them to do these simple tasks to ensure they still have proper movement in their legs, and what ever else! It was neat to watch though.

There were still an array of animals to see, including the rhinos, the cheetahs, the ant eaters, and several more birds! We normally finish our zoo trip with letting Baylynn walk through the petting zoo. It isn't anything special, just a few goats, but it lets the kids be hands on with an animal they might not see on a daily basis!

Needless to say, one could understand why we love this zoo so much. Saturday was by far the most crowded it had been since we have been going, but ruin our fun, it did not!

Until Next Time!

~Blahgallaboutit!~