It's A Zoo Out There

Kaylee's entire school went on a field trip to the Indianapolis Zoo today. We were all to meet in front of the zoo at 9:20 a.m. sharp because we all needed to go in together as a group. It was chilly and several of the kids had to use the restroom, but we had to wait until we were in the zoo to go to the bathroom, which usually isn't too big of a problem even after an hour and 15 minute drive. Unfortunately, several families were very late, and we stood outside in a group for FORTY MINUTES waiting on them. Two of them still hadn't shown up by the time we gave up on them and went inside. Me, I'd have given them about 15 minutes before deciding they could pay the regular rate and go in on their own, as I would hope people would do with me if something came up that made me that late. At 10 we went in as a group, hit the restrooms, and upon exiting the restrooms everybody went their own way anyway. We did run into a boy from Kaylee's class and we went around the zoo with him and his grandparents for awhile. We pretty much hit the whole place, and just before lunch we enjoyed the dolphin show. They have eight trained dolphins, and three of them do tricks for the audience. Kaylee sat in the "Splash Zone" and hoped to get drenched-she didn't get wet, but she had a front row seat and really enjoyed herself anyway.

They had some rides there too, and Kaylee wanted to go on the roller coaster. Her friend from school was shocked she would go on the roller coaster, but compared to the real ones she has been on, this is nothing. She went by herself and had a good time with it. :)

We had a group lunch outside the zoo, and then I took Kaylee to the "Gardens", where they have a butterfly room. It's a big building full of flowering plants and loaded up with beautiful butterflies everywhere. The kids loved it, spotting the different colors and sizes and shapes of butterflies, and we stayed there the longest. Kaylee fiercely wanted a butterfly to land on her, but when one finally did, she squealed and acted scared of it. I said "Are you kidding me? They don't even have teeth or claws-they're butterflies!" She shrugged and went back to trying to get them to land on her. I never could get a picture of a butterfly and her in the same shot, but I did take some pictures of the zoo experience.

Kaylee had a great time. She loves the zoo, loves going and doing something fun and different.

I think every school within a 100 mile radius was there today. I'm actually not kidding-there were scores of school buses in the lot and school children packed into every square inch of the zoo buildings today. You couldn't even get up to the walls or see the exhibits half the time because of the crowds. We got into the underwater dolphin bubble where you've got water on all sides (pretty neat), and there were 20 children standing against one of the walls all yelling "DolPHINS! DolPHINS!" and banging on the Plexiglas walls, with nobody stopping them. The baby shark display you could stick your fingers in the water and pet a baby shark if you wanted. Kids were grabbing for the sharks, bumping other kids out of the way of the water, yelling, and the whole time the woman was speaking loudly into a microphone trying to get everybody to be gentle with the sharks. (I bet she went home and took a Tylenol too). The butterfly house was so packed you couldn't stop in one place, and you were packed in shoulder to shoulder on the pathways. Pictures were almost impossible because you couldn't stop and if you did, you'd get run over and/or you'd have a bunch of other kids blocking your photo. It was amazingly, amazingly crowded at the entire zoo. I have been to the zoo at least once a year every year for many years, and I've never seen it like that. Kaylee didn't care, it added to the excitement for her most likely.

I personally am not a fan of zoos, and I am particularly not a fan of crowds, for four hours non-stop, in many enclosed spaces, with loud screaming often ill-behaved youngsters, but the bottom line is that after:

$12 for admission
$17 for lunch
$.51 for a souvenir squished penny
$9.50 for a snack
$1 to feed a giraffe
$2.75 for a roller coaster ticket
$15 in gas
2.5 hours time in the car in some pretty good traffic
and
2 Tylenols later,

Kaylee had fun. :)