A New Zoo

After an early morning 8 mile run in 17 degree weather, I came home and declared that I was not sitting around in the house all day, with kids who complained about being bored unless they are watching TV or playing video games!  So, I told Royal we were going to go to Kansas City and for him to find something for us to do while I took the hottest shower imaginable to remove my body from the ice cube it had become during my run.  (is it too early to be hoping for an 80 degree day??? or just for the snow to finish melting so I can start working on my garden???)

Royal suggested that we check out the Kansas City Zoo - because if you know us, we love zoos! - they had some animals there that we don't have at ours, like polar bears and Jayden's favorite animal of all time, cheetahs, so after some whining and complaining from the kids, mostly Jayden about not wanting to go and just wanting to stay home and watch TV, I told him that he was coming no matter what, but if he didn't want to go to the zoo that was fine with me, I'd prefer to go shopping anyway, and we could just do that.  I'm pretty sure I saw a look of panic cross Royal's face at the idea of me and our money and a whole day of nothing but shopping, so I'm sure he was quite relieved when Jayden gave up his stance on "going is stupid".

We ended up getting to the zoo just in time for their show Close Encounters with Animals.  We got front row seats (nobody goes to the zoo when there is still feet of snow on the ground) and got to see a Rainbow Boa, an American Alligator, and Walter the Radiated Tortoise.  Walter is special because he came to do the zoo, from a private donor, with an infected tail, and they couldn't get the tail to heal because he kept sitting on his tail, reopening his wound and getting it reinfected.  So, they put Walter on wheels, so he sits high enough off the ground that he didn't crush his tail anymore.  It looked pretty hilarious, but he scoots around just fine.

Willow also got brave and went down front to pet the snake and the alligator.

Then we moved onto the Polar Bears, who were loving all the snow and swimming in their pool.  I'm pretty sure I could of sat there and watched them all day.

Lots of the animals weren't on display because of how cold and snowy it still is here, but there were enough exhibits open to keep us entertained.

This is Jayden's "Oh my gosh!  Did you see that porcupine in there???"

Yes, yes I did.

Willow made "friends" with this bird.  It kind of went crazy when Willow came up to check it out.  It started screeching at her and trying to claw her with one of it's feet.  Willow thought it was hilarious.

We then walked into Africa to check out the cheetahs.  Luckily they were outside!

On our way back out of Africa, Willow got snow down her boots and decided she'd rather be barefoot.  I was freezing, but she insisted she was just fine!

One of the last things we did was watch a sea lion show.

For the most part, it's a pretty awesome zoo, but it is spread out and you have to walk a ton without lots to look at.  At our zoo, there is lots of walking, but all the animals are pretty close together.  We plan on going back in the spring around Jayden's birthday since he wants to do the Great Wolf Lodge for his birthday again (shocking, I know!) so we figure we'll go to the zoo again then.  It should be much warmer and all the animals should be out!