A Super Special Zoo Visit

Uncle Adam had a special treat planned for the kids.  He was going to give them a backstage pass style visit at the zoo.  He had a friend that worked there that offered to take us to meet a few animals personally. 

We started at the polar bear exhibit. 

Tundra, our nice polar bear friend, performed a few tricks for some tenderloin. 

Here's her best trick, the wave! It ended up being pretty much her only trick that day.  She refused to get in the water or do anything else.  I got an email shortly after our visit that said that Tundra was moving to a new zoo.  I think as a 'senior bear', she has just had enough.  Good for her.  I hope she likes her new home in Detroit. 
The Zoo has made a very difficult decision to permanently close its polar bear exhibit. For Tundra, our 29-year-old polar bear, that means a relocation. The Zoo's veterinary staff carefully reviewed all of the options and agree that the Detroit Zoo is the perfect facility for Tundra's needs as a senior bear. Considered one of the leading polar bear facilities in the world, the Detroit Zoo offers large spaces and pools with easy slopes for Tundra to enter and exit the water, especially as she gets older. Tundra arrived at the Indianapolis Zoo in 1988 and has been a significant part of our community. She has helped educate millions of guests over the years as an ambassador for her endangered species and her counterparts in the wild. Please join us on Facebook and Twitter to share your memories of Tundra and wish her well on the journey to her new home in Michigan. She will be greatly missed.

We spotted Flotsam and Jetsam in the tank!

Next stop was the walrus exhibit. 

We got to go in the back and feed the walruses.  This was Aurora! Charlotte was so excited! She was also terrified because these guys are HUGE.  I believe she said Aurora was 2000 pounds and her mate was going to be 3000+. 

Aurora gave us kisses on our hands which felt like a wet clammy vacuum.  It freaked us all out (in a good way).

She let us feel her whiskers which felt like a bunch of pointy glow sticks. I never imagined they would feel like that. We fed her so many fish.  They told us she ate 5 coolers full of fish a day.  Hungry princess! ;-)

We were able to walk around to the backside of the aquariums.  It really is just like they show in Finding Dory, by the way! Concrete block rooms filled with tanks of fish ready to be moved to other zoos if needed.  I'm sure there was a Hank trying to escape to Cleveland, just like in the movie.
 It was really cool to see the tanks from the backside and looking down at the people looking in.

Next we met the ever so adorable senior rockhopper penguin couple, 157 and 198.  They were by far my favorite. 

Group picture with the little feller. ;-)

An up close and personal shot with the little lady. 

They were so sweet. They just wanted to cuddle in your hands and lean up against you.  They were so soft too.  I didn't realize that penguins actually had feathers! They look like they would feel like seals but they definitely have feathers and even molt! Whaaaaa?

It was a little rainy the day we visited but we are pros when it comes to traveling in the rain!

The next stop was the seal exhibit!  Charlotte is not a fan of loud noises and most large animals are loud.  Not a good combo but she made it through.  You can see in the video at the bottom of this post, we saw another seal who was being trained.  This poor seal had been shot once, rehabilitated and released but then was shot again and became blind.  He only had one eye so they were trying to rehabilitate him to be able to get around (seriously, there were so many similarities to Finding Dory).  It was very interesting. I had no idea that these animals were rescues.

Seals are just like puppies.  Tail wagging, always looking to please you, fast moving, and hyper.  So much fun! Our seal's name was Holly.  She was laser focused on Jenny most of the time. But Tommy started to say something at one point and Holly lost focus and lasered in on Tommy and started moving toward him.  Talk about a freak out.  He just repeated NO NO NO NO NO until Jenny got Holly's attention again.  For a moment it was questionable but Holly was more than happy to get back to her fish. 

We each got a picture being kissed by Holly.  Adam's kiss ended up in his eye the first time.  Ha!

We got a group selfie in the seal backroom! Thanks Emily! It's a keeper!

After our meet n greets with the animals, we spent some time visiting other exhibits.  The orangutan exhibit is just crazy.  They just come up to the windows and stare at you.  For a moment, you're not sure who is studying who! This orangutan ate his greens and then spit them out and smooshed them against the window.  He also picked his nose and ate it several times.  Orangutans, they're just like us! ;-)

We rode Charlotte's favorite ride, the carousel. 

Tommy and Andrew were just waiting for the ride to be over so they could get on the roller coaster.

We checked out the giraffes...

and the cheetahs.
Then we headed home.

Charlotte and Tommy both fell asleep so we decided to keep driving and we went all the way to Grandma and Grandpa's new house.

Charlotte was excited about the playhouse!!

Tommy was excited about the floor space for playing.

What a day we had a the zoo.

Here's a recap of some quick videos that I took that day.  Charlotte did not like the loud noises but she certainly liked the carousel.  What a cool day!