Fort Worth Zoo

We went to the Fort Worth Zoo yesterday - Sean took an extra day off of work so that he'd have a 4 day weekend. :) Our goal was to leave around 9 a.m. in order to get there when they opened at 10. Then, we'd leave the zoo between 2 and 3 in order to beat the Friday afternoon traffic. Ha, ha, ha - yeah, right!

Here's how it REALLY came down...

We left around 10 a.m. (OK, so an hour late) We stopped at TI for discount tickets...they sell adult tickets for $9 and child/senior tickets for$6 in case anyone is interested. It was about 10:30 a.m. when we finally got on our way. I pulled my camera out because I needed to format the memory card, which was almost full. Um, yeah...battery was dead!!! The camera got left on overnight. What's worse - when I crawled into bed on Thursday night, I thought, "I should plug my camera battery in." But, I decided against it since I had just charged it a few weeks ago. I should have listened to that still, small voice. :)

"Well, we can't go to the zoo without a camera!" was mine and Sean's first thought. Afterall, this was Elijah's first "real" trip to the zoo. He went last year, but he was only 3-4 months old. This was the first time he'd grasp the animals. We couldn't go without a camera!!!

So, I ran into a Wal-Mart and picked up 2 disposable ones, but neither Sean nor I were satisfied with that option. So, after making a few other stops without much luck, we finally found a Best Buy. Sean bought me a Nikon Coolpix S600. :) Check it out here: http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/digitalcamera/coolpix/s600/ It was something we had looked at getting - a back up camera that I could keep in my purse when I don't want to carry around the big camera. (We later decided that this is my anniversary gift - since our anniversary is June 5th.) The only problem is that the people at Best Buy told Sean that my memory card woud fit into the camera, and they were wrong. So, we were only able to get about 20 photos of the zoo, but at least we got some. (We picked up a correct memory card on the way home.) I will post the pictures as soon as I figure out how to upload them and get them on the blog. LOL

After all of this was over, it was around 1 when we finally got to the zoo. As we drove up, we saw about 20 Ft. Worth ISD school buses. Oh, great! But, as I looked at the time, I told Sean, "You know, us arriving later may have been a blessing in disguise because these groups will be leaving soon so that they can get back before school's out." Sure enough, I was right! We decided to eat our picnic lunch before we ever went in. We had to buy Elijah a hat at Ft. Worth Zoo since the sun was beaming down yesterday, and he (and Sean LOL) left the one I had for him at the house. We were finally set to see animals around 1:3o.

Everytime Elijah saw an animal, he waved at it. :) It was so cute! Nathan said his favorites were the giraffes. He's always loved these, even as an infant. They had two adults and one baby giraffe...very cute. Nathan also really liked the white bengal tiger. He thought that was pretty cool. Of course, he called it a black tiger...we still have trouble with the colors sometimes. LOL

We finished seeing the animals around 3 and decided to get a promised treat at the ice cream parlor before we left. We rode the train back to the front gate - which the boys loved - and headed home around 4. Sean THOUGHT we'd miss traffc, but he was wrong. Every highway we got on had an accident, and it took 2 hours to get home. Elijah slept for 30-45 min., but he was screaming and trying to escape his 5 pt. harness (car seat) by the time we hit stop and go traffic in Allen and McKinney. LOVELY!!!

We finally made it home around 7 p.m. after running a few errands on the way home. We were all tired, hot (it was 95 yesterday and humid - HORRIBLE) and hungry when we got in. BUT, we picked up buffalo wings and fries on the way home so our hunger was quickly satisfied. After showers for everyone and a little time to wind down, the boys went to bed early...tired, but hopefully filled with memories of a fun trip to the zoo. :)