Hanging out at the Zoo Part 2

I left off yesterday at the dolphin show, which was just about to begin!

Pretty soon the show started and it was quite exciting! Several trainers came out and there was a flurry of activities with the dolphins!

Soon the dolphins were jumping high out of the water. I had to draw an arrow to show this dolphin just "punching" a red ball hanging from the ceiling. He kind of gets lost in the scenery!

This dolphin came right up on the deck to greet the trainer.

Another air-defying jump!

One of the trainers, named Beth, got into the water and swam and did tricks with each dolphin.

Here she is holding on to one of the dolphin's fins and being pulled all over the pool. Doesn't she look happy? (Actually ALL the trainers had smiles on their faces!)

I was a little jealous. There was a small part of me that wished I was her. But then I had a "Cher-snap-out-of-it" moment when I realized that:

1. I'd have to wear a wetsuit, and
2. I'd have to actually LEARN how to swim.

Oh. Forget about it. *shake my head a little*

Back to the show.

The show lasted about 25-30 minutes. It was the BEST part of the day at the zoo. I was able to rest my weary body. Although it was very warm in there and I was sweating like a fat lady. Wait. I AM a fat lady. There were two Muslim ladies sitting in front of me. Both had on long pants, LONG SLEEVED SWEATERS, then one had on a sleeveless top over the sweater and her long scarf covering all her hair. The other woman had on a long sleeved top covering the sweater and a long scarf covering all her hair.

I was hot just looking at them.

And I don't mean like in the "switching sides" kind of way.

I did not see one bead of sweat on them.

They DID use the zoo maps as fans.

But still.

I was wearing capri jeans and a short sleeve top, socks and gym shoes and I was on fire.

Of course, these women were half the woman I was. Maybe that helped. I don't know. But when they were fanning themselves I thought it would be too presumptuous of me to stick my head between them so I could feel some of the air, wouldn't you agree?

Well, it didn't matter because the problem was solved soon enough. The show was coming to an end when all of a sudden a dolphin came to a stop right in front of our section, lifted his tail, and smack! We were deluged with salt water! I was totally unprepared for that! In fact, my mouth was open so I got a big gulp of it! My eyes burned, not only from the salt water, but also from my mascara running (yeah, picture Tammy Faye Baker), my camera was wet, and I reeked of fish.

It's true that we were warned that it was possible that the first 6 rows could get wet - they were known as the "splash zone seats", but since the show was just about over I thought we were safe.

Guess again.

My camera was okay, thankfully.

We continued on to below deck to see the dolphins underwater.

The seals were enjoyable to watch and they came right up to the window.

We went to the petting zoo, which turned out to be another disappointment. I remember there being more animals for the kids to pet. On our visit there were only baby goats available.

Lily lives with two rambunctious dogs and three cats, so she is NOT afraid of animals. Here she is brushing a big goat.

We saw some cows, baby chicks, reindeer and birds of prey, but nothing else that kids could pet. It WAS called the petting zoo, though. It was weird, like an off day. It wasn't too crowded, even though it was June. The Chicago Public Schools weren't out yet, so maybe that's why it wasn't too crowded. But still.

It was cute to see this worker try to shepherd this gaggle of geese to where they were supposed to go.

We hopped on the tram and rode it completely around the zoo. It felt good when we stopped in the shade. And looking at these two fountains in the pond cooled me off a little, too.

Lily is so used to me carrying my camera around and taking pictures of her that now when she does something she'll say, "Grandma, picture?" In this instance, she is pretending to be asleep!

I say a few words to her and I get this! (Hard for her to keep her eyes shut!)

We passed this beautiful display of flowers shaped like a butterfly.

Before long, Lily is really sleeping and DaDa carries her to the car.

A fun time was had by all.

Lily's little nap lasted till we put her in her car seat. Then she talked all the way to our house....about an hour and a half drive! At one point Papa said, "Lily, let's sleep!" And he closed his eyes and pretended to snore.

Lily looked at me and said, "Gamma, sleep!" Then she leaned her head to the side and made snoring noises!

I laughed so hard that I almost wet myself.

She laughed and said, "Gamma, picture?"

Hanging out at the Zoo

Last week  Jim and I  joined our daughter, Jessica, son-in-law, Dave, and granddaughter, Lily, on a two hour drive to downtown Chicago.

We had to get an early start. And Lily takes after her mother, who takes after HER MOTHER, who is not a morning person!

First stop - The University of Illinois (UIC) Chicago Hospital for a special blood test that my daughter needed to have done. (future post)

Papa and I waited with Lily outside at a park across the street from the hospital.

Papa helped Lily put on her "crocodiles" (what we call her shoes since she can't pronounce "cr" and calls them her "cocks"!)

This is Lily's beloved George. He goes everywhere with her.

Lily was awestruck with the sounds of the city. The elevated train tracks were half a block away, and trains came by frequently. Lily is used to the sounds of trains since they run through her home town, but they are a combination of freight trains AND Amtrak and they have whistles. These trains did NOT have whistles. That seemed to puzzle her. There was a lot of activity happening; buses and cars driving by; people walking down the sidewalk. Some people joined us where we were sitting and Lily was quick to yell out "HI!" and wave her tiny hand. An ambulance came rushing down the street with the sirens blasting, but Lily felt safe in Papa's arms. She is familiar with sirens because the fire department is not too far from her home. Lily says when she hears a siren that "they are going to help" and that "someone has an owie".

Soon Jessica was done and we headed off to our next stop - Brookfield Zoo.

The day was overcast when we had left home, but by the time we got to the zoo it was sunny. And hot. And humid. Temps got to in the 90's and the humidity was high. Yeah!

I was happy to see some of the animals in open areas with grass.

I don't know why he's so hot; he should be used to this weather!

My FAVORITE animal at the zoo!

Here are the polar bears.

Looking through thick glass

Polar bear half in/half out of water; Lily and Jess in foreground.

I took this next picture while standing outside but there still was a thick piece of glass and/or plexiglass separating us from the polar bear. It was feeding time and there was this big hunk of meat sitting on the log. I was able to get a photo right when the bear grabbed the meat.

This grizzly bear had the right idea in the oppressive heat. His brother just looked on in the background.

Recent addition to the zoo were these injured pelicans who can no longer fly.

We saw the true meaning of Mother Goose! She had 16 babies!

I grew up going to Brookfield Zoo. I took my kids there when they were little. The last time I was there was probably 8 years ago. I was dismayed to see how rundown it seemed. Yet it cost $20.50 for admission that included three additional options - we chose the petting zoo, dolphin show, and the tram.

Some of the exhibits were closed, some were being remodeled, and some we were appalled at what the animals were kept in.

Take the baboons, for instance. I remember there being many, many baboons running up and down the fake rocks. There was a moat running along the bottom.


On this particular day, there were only 3 or 4 baboons. There was no moat.


And this baboon was chewing on plastic water bottles! I was really upset by this!

This one was playing will a long piece of red plastic.

We went into the monkey house and saw more fake rocks and fake trees.Where was the natural habitat? How about some grass? Trees? Leaves?


These gorillas had a very small space to live, again with just fake rocks and trees. It was so sad. This is the baby gorilla. He seemed so bored.

This is the adult male. This isn't a great photo, but he just rolled around on the hard cement. No grass!

The best part of the zoo was the dolphin show. It wasn't air conditioned in the pool area, but it was out of the sun. Here's a sweaty Lily and Papa. I was calling and waving to Lily, trying to get  her to look my way when the man behind began waving and yelling "hi"!. Lily spotted HIM and waved! I turned around and looked at him - he was an older man and smiled sheepishly at me saying, "Hey, I look like a Grandpa!"

Stay tuned for photos from the dolphin show and more!