Where the Wild Things are - & The Animals Too!

So, this past Saturday, the boys and I went with my mom to her work's annual company picnic. This year, mom's department was in charge of planning the entire event. I always joke, Of course, that my dad has a fun-o-meter that has a very tiny threshold. It is because of that that my mom asked me if I wanted to take his spot, and bring along the boys. Busy many that he is, John had to work so he couldn't go with us. I guess that's what happens when you own your own company.

This year, her company had their picnic at the Columbus Zoo. It was BLAZING HOT & HUMID that day and was packed full of people. I use that term loosely because I think that some of them should have actually been caged up instead of the so called wild animals. But, I digress.....anyhow, we had a fun time, despite it all. There is also a water park attached to the zoo called Zoombeezi Bay. We opted not to do that in the morning, which was a huge MISTAKE, as the heat about knocked us over later. Next time, next time. Also, they have a neat area called Jungle Jack's Landing where there are all kinds of rides and such. We didn't do this either, mainly again because of the heat and lines. Each one of us had a favorite animal. Daniel said his favorite animal was all of them. But after a little probing he decided that his very favorite was the aquarium. He said the gorilla was neat too. That was probably because after watching their HUGE gorilla, he waited, looked at innocent spectators and full on charged the glass of his exhibit nearly scaring the poo out of most of the people. Other people stood there and didn't flinch at all. I found THAT more amazing than the gorilla itself! I learned later from my friend Buffy, that people who are familiar with thiz zoo know that the gorilla is famous for that and wait for it to happen. Hmmmm, cheap thrills I guess--being charged by a wild animal. Jackson said his favorite part of the whole day were the otters. Funny, for as hot as it was, you'd have thought that they would have been wildly playing in the water. Instead, they just laid down by the side of the water in the middle of the sunshine! They probably had heat stroke like the rest of us! LOL! Noah got to touch an armadillo, and so he thought that was pretty exciting, I guess. It got scared, and the zoo keeper was demonstrating things about it. But, it could roll itself into a little ball, and then started flailing itself around, which, I have to admit looked pretty comical. My very favorite was the tiger exhibit. I'm always amazed by them. These were Siberian Tigers, but, my very favorites are the White Bengal Tigers at the Cincinnati Zoo. Anyhow, I got some really neat pictures of a lot of things there. But, it seems as though I spent an exceptionally long time taking pictures of those tigers! Hee! I have many pictures of the elephant too. It was playing and splashing in the water, and flipping it's blue toy ball around. We were all having a fun time watching, until it got a little too personal with the ball, and prompted Daniel to ask me what it was doing. Well, being a boy, you'd think he would have noticed a part of the elephant's anatomy that was that enormous beyond all belief!, but he innocently enough didn't see that I guess. Whew! I just quickly diverted his attention to the nearest exit. Funny, that Noah was all like, "Okay guys, it's time to go!" Just about the same time as his mom! Ha! Way to go kid! And, what is it about every time we go to the zoo "that" is a main factor in some exhibit we encounter that day! Oh well, maybe next time we will leave unscathed! LOL!