The J6 Journey: Year 4, April 17th, 2019: The J6 Annual Zoo Trip 2019

What a blessing it is to have friends that are willing to share their extra passes with you! This is the third year in a row that we've been able to tag along with friends to our local zoo. First of all, visiting the zoo with friends is always more fun. But second, seeing the reactions of Abishai, who will hopefully be able to remember more of it this time, is so neat! I know he took in and observed more than he did even last year. He said every animal at the zoo was his favorite. And he event got to "race a cheetah!" And the weather couldn't have been more perfect! 65-70 degrees, with a little bit of a breeze, overcast, so the sun wasn't too hot, and most of the animals were up and about and moving for once! Even the Red Panda, the tigers, and the cheetahs! We went with Jessical Holton and her two kids, Maddie, who is 5 and in Abishai's class, and Carter, who is 15 months or so. They both acted like angels, too! Our kids were ok, but nearly all of them had meltdowns when they were "done" with everything. Even Abishai said, "I love my home. I want to go home and put my jammies on." Wow! We were there for about 5 hrs.

I'm sure I explained a lot of things in previous years about our zoo, like how it isn't the biggest or best, but it's adequate. I did just watch some documentaries about orca whales and Seaworld and such, so I was looking out for signs of boredom, especially with the walruses and the dolphins and didn't see any. Sure all the enclosures are on the small side at our zoo, but it's smack dab in the middle of the city! They don't really have room to spread out. I don't think the St. Louis zoo is much bigger in acreage. Who knows, and who cares. We have a zoo and we like it. I never went to the zoo as a kid. I went to the aquarium in 1st grade and only remember my teacher buying me a penguin pencil because I didn't bring any souvenir money. Anyway, we didn't need a map, but we did see some new animals, the monkeys that replaced the polar bear. That exhibit has been empty for 6-7 years. The only thing we skipped was the desserts zone, but my kids don't spend a lot of time in there anyway. And of course we took in a dolphin show, which seemed much simpler and shorter than before. There was no explanation of how or why they train the dolphins (to make checkups easily. Abishai was hesitant at first because he was tired, but then held my hand throughout and said, "I like this, Mom." Awwww......

It was an excellent way to spend a Wednesday and I got to know Jessica a bunch more, too. The kids all got along quite well. It was a beautiful day! And Abishai did NOT fall asleep on the way home either. Crazy kid growing up too fast! Well, they alldo! I remember nursing Justin in the bathroms near the dolphin pavilion. Some things don't change much, but some things need a drastic change for the better. Now, onto the pics because I've got some great ones! If only we could all see life like a child does! Curiosity, awe, and wonder at all that God has made!

Ok, bear with me, these will be a little out of order because it's my iPhone pics, then my DSLR pics, then Jessica's phone pics. But, you get the point! I might not even caption each one because well, you know what animals they are!

Indianapolis Zoo Playlist 2019

Yes, there's class between them. Poor tiger was pacing back and forth. It was cool enough that most of the animals were active! The tiger did NOT scare Abishai, but I think it's very scary to be that close to it!

Big brown bears!

All done with his morning swim.

They look a bit different when they are wet.

They separated out the male lions and the female lions after an incident last year where one of the lionesses I believe hurt or even killed a zookeeper (I could be wrong though). This cage is new, and I'm assuming they rotate the animals in the larger enclosure. These huge beasts are beautiful and it's hard to believe they have such deadly capabilities.

"I'm the king of the rock!" He literally said that! And Maddie said she's the princess!

These two are so cute together! (And sorry to the little girl for taking a picture of your backside. I really try hard to be careful not to get other kids in our pics.)

THIS was new and fun for us! Jessica had a pass where you could get bird feed that was stuck to a popsicle stick. Then you stuck out the stick and the birds landed on them and ate from them! What a neat experience! The kids wanted to pet the birds, but I told them no because you don't wan to pass your germs on to them. These birds are called budgies, and I believe they are a domesticated type of bird. Abishai loved this! Although when the bird was on his stick, he had a hard time keep it up so the bird had to eat face down. Whoops!

Cute little playground for the 5yrs and younger crowd out near the air conditioned nursing mom's building. Boy would I have loved that room years ago! I remember trying to nurse in the bathroom or on a bench at the zoo.

Carter loved it in this little treehouse play house thing. And Keturah made a great mommy's helper, too!

Dolphins, of course!

Bear with me. I am going to leave this pics in. We found out that some of the dolphins are as old as I am, plus there's a gradnmother/daughter/son set in the pool. Neat!

They know it's almost showtime!

Awww, been there done that, too! Jessica rocked Carter to sleep in a corner before the show started. She was even able to transfer him to his stroller, and he slept through the kids playing on the playground and walking to the butterfly garden! What a trooper!

Hi, Taz! Unfortunately, the dolphin show was shorter than we've seen before and they didn't explain why they train dolphins to do certain tricks, like show their flukes. They train dolphins to do certain maneuvers because then it's easier to administer medication or do health checkups. These guys seem to be in good health and not stressed.

Overcast day, but warm. No rain. PERFECT weather for the zoo! I'm so glad we got to fit this in this year! And a big thanks to my friend Jessica for getting us in for free! What a blessing!

Weird modern art near the highways in downtown Indy. Keturah said they look like leaves blowing in the wind.

Sea lions and seals.

I love how more animated Abishai was this time. He only spent a little bit of time in the stroller, which I mainly brought to push the backpack around. My shoulders do hurt from carrying it though. We had fun naming all the colors on the fishes!

How come animals are so beautiful?! God designed them this way!

Poisonous lionfish!

Mommy, we found Nemo! And an ugly starfish.

Oooo, sometimes I pretend to be a real photographer and actually get decent photos! This is one of them!

This seahorse looks sick. There were only two of them in the tank. I feel sad for them.

A real sea anemone! Or anemonmemememe,.....

This picture cracks me up! Jessica was trying to talk to the sea lion.

Penguins! We watched them get fed and sim against the manmade current.

Resting?

Private, Rico, Kawalski, and Skipper! (Penguins of Madacasgar)

The zoo wasn't able to secure a new polar bear (it's been at least 7 years since their last one died), so they redid the habitat for these monkeys. They are very small.

Talking about the kind of teeth they have and what the eat. They are omnivorous like we are.

Monkey hut. And boy are these monkeys fast! There were baby ones, too.

The patriarch of the family who gets to eat first. That's why he's so fat!

Walrus.

Even the red panda was awake and moving! He's always sleeping! The Master Shifu from Kung Fo Panda.

Isn't this kitty gorgeous? And hungry looking.

It's mate in the other enclosure.

Macaws! They were super loud and then Keturah started begging to have a bird as a pet.

Did you know that there's this many kinds in the macaw family? Reminds me of the movie Rio.

Morning bathtime.

Maddie insisted on pushing the "baby" (Abishai) in the stroller. Mommy's little helper.

We only saw a few orangutans and no babies. They must be resting in the other habitat.

Not quite Austria or PEI or the Netherlands, but pretty tulips all the same.

All kinds of sizes of giraffes! Again, so pretty!

And the littlest is only 2 months old! I remember hearing about it on the zoo's social media, which I follow.

Even the big white rhino is impressive. You have got to appreciate God's design in all these unique animals. All equipped for different environments. Marvelous!

The lionesses were quiet, but still beautiful.

The other rhino.

Playing on the rock. But we didn't get them to sit still long enough to get a good picture. Oh well.

King of the mountain next to the kid who thinks he can do the sprinkler dance.

Baboon

I think I'm going to leave all of these in here, too. I wish I had wiped off the crumb on his chin, but nevertheless, check out this cutie!

What a smile, Carter!

Time for pansies! The purple petals are so velvety soft.

Trying to race a cheetah! Go Maddie!

Abishai was super fast!

Carter loved the animals. I couldn't tell if the elephants were still grieving or not. They lost two of their young herdmates a few weeks ago due to a disease that only young or old elephants could get. There's nothing you can do to prevent it or cure it. The elephants died within 48 hrs of their first symptoms. So sad. the two herdmates for like 5 and 7 years old and I think born at the zoo. Poor elephants.

Maddies' turn to be pushed in the stroller.

Flamingos.

All the kids feeding the birdies.

It was so neat to be so close to them!

Awww, pretty bird.

The birds look like decorations!

Hehehe

I think she'd make a pretty good flamingo.

Justin said he wouldn't mind sleeping in here. I love our underwater dolphin dome. You have to be super quiet because it echos and hurts the dolphins with their super sensitive hearing.

Beautiful animals, as always.

I started to take pictures and videos but stopped halfway through the performance because I just wanted to enjoy the show. It had your typical jumps, fluke splashings, fin wavings, and dancing on there's tail.

Flip in the water.

Say hi to "Ta!"

Away with ya!

The daddy orangutan is up there climbing all over the place. Good for him!

Still fast asleep.

Native wildlife: a big fat one to bot.

Playground time.

Can you spot the orange butterfly?

Oh wow, my images always look better on screen. Again, look at God's design. So complex!

Beautiful gardens. And it reminded me of Chad and Amy's weeding 17 years ago that took place here. Benaiah was barely two months old. I let Gary and Leah take him home during the reception but had no clue that I need a breastfeeding pump. I was sore by the time we got back home and Benaiah was very hungry. Live and Learn.

Our babies.

Abishai wasn't afraid of the butterflies and often reached out to try and catch one. Awww, I love his look for pure delight.

The outdoor gardens. The inside garden is a nice warm moist environment and is also used for a Christmas train exhibit.

Reminds me of Benaiah when he fell asleep at the Natural History Museum in Chicago when he was 2 yrs old. Abishai was done for the day and talked about loving his home and wanting to get into pj's right away.