Originally, our plan was to do some hiking on Cumberland Island in South Georgia. However, we decided to postpone that trip for another weekend when Baylor decided to deviate from his regular schedule and not "take care of business" early in the morning. You see, the state park requires visitors to follow "leave no trace" practices which would force us to carry our trash along with us for the duration of our adventure. When you consider two 45-minute ferry rides to the island plus the 4.5 hours you spend there between the twice daily ferries, you can see why weren't eager to lug around smelly, dirty diapers that would have resulted from Baylor's altered schedule. One way or another, everything revolves around Baylor.
Our plan B was a good one though! We decided it would be a lot easier, but just as much fun to spend the day at the zoo. Once there, we followed a different path and worked our way counter-clockwise through the park because we always miss out on the Florida and Great Ape exhibits located near the end of the park's loop. There just aren't enough hours in the day to do it all!
The boys seemed less than thrilled with the alligators on display. The swamp exhibit is beautiful, but the alligators are normal-sized like you'd find in the wild as opposed to the super-sized versions we have at our Alligator Farm. As a kid, I can see how you'd be disappointed.
We wandered through the Florida reptile house and made a point to study the venomous snakes. This way maybe we'll know what we should be on the lookout for in the front yard. Yikes!
We also visited the zoo's 2 napping Florida panthers. Don't they look ferocious cuddled up with each other!
From Florida, we made our way to Asia to check out the new Komodo Dragon exhibit. Besides the giant lizards, there is an impressive garden complete with Koi pond.
I couldn't resist having the boys pose for a picture. Baylor looks a little concerned that his big brother might be about to throw him in.
With Asia somewhat limited in it's offerings at this point, we made our way back towards the Great Apes displays. Primates are beyond interesting, and it looks like they share a similar opinion of humans.
This huge gorilla was Jax's favorite. We met him briefly during our last visit as we were rushing out of the park at closing. He was in this same position, waiting eagerly to be let inside his pen away from the annoying humans that stare at him all day. Poor guy!
Inspired by some Siamangs he saw swinging from the branches and ropes inside their pen, Jax was eager to head to the playground to do a little climbing of his own.
Baylor still seems to prefer the slide, but I suspect that will change in the near future. He's becoming more & more like his big brother every day which means soon enough, I'll be stressing over two little boys that have climbed too high and are risking broken limbs all for the sake of an adrenaline rush. Boys!
It was amusing to see that Baylor seems to be quite fond of birds. He would squeal with delight any time we crossed paths with a winged friend.
The only hesitation came when he had the chance to get up close & personal with some Lorikeets that were after the nectar shots we had to offer. Once Baylor realized they weren't interested in clawing his eyes out or biting him, he was fine and quite amazed by their beautiful colors.
Of course, no trip to the zoo would be complete without visiting the giraffes. So, we made our way to Africa for a quick hello before closing. The baby, Tucker, has grown considerably since our last visit in the Fall. I guess the saying, "They grow up so fast!" applies to giraffes too.
One last bit of excitement before heading to the car, the carousel! The boys had time for two rides which meant a total of 4 animals were enjoyed. Jax was quite adamant about his selections. Luckily, Baylor isn't quite so opinionated at this point. However, I'm sure that day will come.
1 comment:
Such a cute blog post!
"Baylor looks a little concerned that his big brother might be about to throw him in." This quote made me laugh out loud. He really does seem concerned :)
I like the selections Jax made on the carousel and it is so interesting how Baylor squealed around birds!
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