We met Mom at the McDonald's in Asheboro to leave her car. Reagan was just excited to see her Nana, but at this point the anticipation to see the animals had her going stir crazy in her seat as he bounce back and forth. The older she gets the more energy gets. Hmm, that doesn't happen for me?
Anyways, we get there, park, buy Dora tickets, and off we go. The Asheboro zoo is great except that you have to walk! I don't mean walking is bad but you have to walk miles (literally) to see all the exhibits. When we first got there we decided it best to go see the 4D Diego and Dora show. Oh, were we smart. One, I wanted to see if it was good enough to do again. Well it wasn't that good, but still entertaining. We were the first in line and waited about three minutes to see it. Perfect timing for a 3 year old. Later in the day we came back through the area to ride the carousel and the line was incredibly long.
Pictures: well I just got a new camera this summer for my birthday and I absolutely love it. However, this is the second time that I have charged it and gotten it all ready to go and left it at home in the midst of running around loading the bazillion things that you need with toddlers. Plus as soon as I was heading out the door Andy needed my diaper bag and stroller for Madison. That though me. SO, these all come from my iphone. It did pretty well considering it is 3 megapixals and no zoom.
The first sight was the flamingos or "mingos" as Reagan calls them. She really liked watching them. During the day we went very slow or fast and just let Reagan enjoy the zoo at a 3 year olds delight. She could stay at any exhibit as long as she wanted (1 hr 15 minutes being the longest) and could pass by or not go to any ones she didn't want to.
Most three year olds I know like the freedom of walking. Not my Reagan. She loves a stroller and today we have the big one where she could lay down. We definitely took full advantage of this feature as we went without a nap today.
We headed through the violets and the tropical birds to the rhinoceros. I love how this zoo is so kid friendly. Better yet, toddler friendly! At almost every exhibit were these beautiful metal structures of the animals that they allowed and encouraged the kids to climb on and feel. Reagan learned so much from touching each animal and sitting on them. We talked about the distinguishing body parts and what was special about each animal.
We spent about 45 minutes at the Gorilla exhibit but I have no pictures. Reagan was so amazed at how much the animal looked like her. The gorilla was right at the plexiglass. Not scared at all she sat right there with him asking him questions, "Where's your mommy?" "Are you sleepy?" "Hi, Gorilla my name is Reagan." It was so cute. We saw elephants, giraffs, zebras, ostriches, bison, and elk. Then we had a picnic lunch. After lunch, we headed to the lions. Reagan wanted to see a lion since we got in the car. She just watched the Lion King at school last week and was very interested in seeing a real lion. We are now in our usual "after lunch trying to go without a nap" mode for the rest of our visit. She did pretty well considering the amount of walking she did and her age. Only one little break down but like I said earlier we went and did what she wanted to do which meant Mom and I were rushed through exhibits we would have taken longer at and then we sat at ones we could have strolled by.
After the lions we went to see the chimpanzees. Before we even got down to the exhibits we spent 15 minutes playing on the brass models. At least I was able to get some good pictures.
FINALLY, on to the real chimps!
Nana and Reagan looking at the chimps.
Reagan is so close to the chimps that she practically looks like she is sitting with them.
We came during feeding time and it was so great because they were acting up and running everywhere chasing after these plastic feeding cups.
Next stop the carousel. Every time we ride a carousel Reagan likes it more and more. She especially enjoyed it today. She choose the zebra while waiting in line.
At this point, if Reagan wasn't having the time of her life then she wasn't going to make it. So, we left the carousel to ride the tram over to the Kidzone. Here she painted on a wall with a paintbrush and water, went through a maze, and played tea party with stuffed animals. The tea party lasted over an hour so my Mom and I just sat and had great conversation. The bark was sticking to Reagan's sweater dress so bad that we had to take it off. She didn't noticed as continued to play in her make believe world of animals.
Off to the playground and finally the bears. It was 5:00pm by the time we got done and the zoo was closing. Just in time for a trip back to McDonald's to pick up Mom's car and dinner. A great McDonald's with a huge indoor play space. Thank you to Nana who paid for our way today and was so great to spend time with us. We love you!
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