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!

Disney Trip 2015: Part 6 Magic Kingdom & Epcot

The last day we went to the parks, my parents decided they would rather do Epcot again rather than Magic Kingdom again.  We were panicked but decided we could still take on the Magic Kingdom just the four of us since Tommy wanted to ride the Seven Dwarves Mine Train.  So my parents took the monorail over to Epcot and left us to fend for ourselves.  Yikes! 

We walk into the park and realize by the immense crowds that they were filming the Christmas parade on Main Street right when we got there.  It was nearly impossible but we squeezed our way through the crowd and escaped the parade before we got cut off from crossing into the area with all the rides.  Sheesh! We thought we had made a mistake...

But the kids quickly let us know that we made the right decision.  Charlotte got to ride her fave ride again, Prince Charming's Carousel.  HORSIES!  YAY! You can't see them but she also has horsies on her shirt.

Ladies carousel selfie!

While Tommy and Dada were waiting in line for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Charlotte and I got in line to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel.  The sign said 40 minutes and I thought, "Oh it will go fast."  This is Charlotte saying, "Ohhhhh, you were WRONG."
We ended up waiting in line for an HOUR! WHAT? Charlotte did so great.  But OMG, it was horrible.  They kept letting all the FastPass people in in front of our line.  Awful.  But Charlotte was in great spirits the whole time until....

Right until she had to go actually meet Cinderella.  She lost her mind.  Maybe the anticipation got the best of her.  Maybe she just really wanted to meet Rapunzel instead.  But she threw her body on the floor and screamed for like 10 seconds right before meeting her.  But she got her act together and met Cinderella with her hand in her mouth the whole time.  Stinker. 

She reminded me of the waitress on Always Sunny.  Maybe that's why Charlotte wasn't impressed.
 

Look at that face.  Not amused. :)

But then it was time to meet Rapunzel.  Oh my, was she excited! I had no idea she was such a fan. 

She even looked at the camera!

Then she hugged her for no less than five straight minutes.  Rapunzel was so great about it.  She kept saying "Oh you are just too sweet.  Ok mom, I guess you're going to have to leave.  I'll just take her back to my tower with me."  Ha!

While all this was going on, Tommy and Dada only ended up waiting a half hour or less for the Mine Train.  WHAT??? The line is NEVER that short.  So it really messed up our schedules for meeting up. 

Oh well, Tommy was SOOOOO happy about riding his favorite ride. 

When we finally met back up, Tommy and I rode Splash Mountain... in the front row! I thought this would be a good thing.  It was not.  We rarely get wet on this ride.  This time we definitely did.  Directly... IN THE FACE.  My hair was ruined for the day.  Tommy was cool with it though.

It's a really great ride though (when not in the front row).  A tad racist but a good ride nonetheless. "Don't throw me in the Briiiaaar Paaatttcchh!!" :-) 

This was before Splash Facing.  I have no idea why I only have one hand up.  I guess I was saying,
"Pick ME to be splashed in the face!"

I can't remember all the rides we went on during the day but I know we went on the Haunted Mansion.  Charlotte was terrified but she made it through. While Tommy and I were on the Barnstormer, Dada felt bad for the all the waiting and being scared Charlotte had to do so he got her the messiest most sugary treat ever.  It's a giant marshmallow dipped in chocolate and coated with M&Ms.  She loved it! So did her shirt.  What a mess it was! But totally worth it!!

We did the Parent Swap for several rides.  The Mine Train was one of them.  I got to ride it with Tommy this time.  (Again, I have no idea why I have one hand up. Strange.)

Hey, there we both have both our hands up! Yay!! I still don't know how they do the pictures for this one.  They sneakily scan our magic bands at some point during the ride.  The magic of Disney, I tell ya. 

I finally got a picture of the characters at the end of the ride.  Snow White is dancing with the dwarves.  It's super cute. 

Then you ride by the witch/evil queen knocking at their door.  Creepy! 

We rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Adventure.  We stood in line with a LOT of Pi Phi's.  They were having a sisterhood retreat.  They were from the University of Florida.  I talked to them a little bit as an alum.  I wanted to say, "See me sweating and wrassling my kids? This is you in 10 years."  But I refrained. 

We got our annual Buzz Lightyear pictures.  You can see last year's here.

I made a comparison shot with this year's picture and last year's picture.  My how they've grown!

All day long while I was, to quote myself, sweating and wrassling my kids, my mom kept sending me texts about how their day was going.  Doesn't it look peaceful and relaxing??? ;-) A nice picture by the water!

Another nice picture in front of Mickey!

Oh look they're drinking beer and having Belgium waffles with blueberry compote for the International Food and Wine Festival!  Looks very nice!

They also had a FastPass for Test Track.  They said that was really cool. They got to design their own car!

 Awww, look at their last photo of the night.  It's a sweet photo with a toe pop. 

 And in comparison, look at our last photo of the night.  We look like it's been a long day.  It was.  There was a Christmas party that night so they kicked us out at 7.  We tried to get on It's a Small World right at 7pm.  But to do that, I had to run from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with Tommy in a double stroller all the way to that in 3 minutes.  It took us 4 minutes and we missed it. (Although in our defense, they definitely closed the right 2 minutes early according to Andrew's iPhone.  BOOOOOO!) So we missed it and Charlotte LOST HER SH*T when we walked away.  It was horrible.  :( Really messed that one up.  So on our way to getting kicked out of the park, we stopped in the gift store.  Charlotte got nightgown number two (Cinderella) so that we could feel better about her missing It's a Small World.  I think she had long forgotten about it by that point.  Ha!

 The kids took their last bath in the big tub that night with their pool toys.  

 The next morning Charlotte took awhile to wake up again. But we packed up the car and headed to the airport. 

Tommy made a friend on the plane.  A kid in the seat in front of him had an Ewok and used it like a puppet for Tommy (see it by the window?).  Too cute.  Also, this was the beginning of his new Star Wars obsession, I believe. 

We made it home safely and still had Sunday to recover from the trip. Thank goodness! The kids got magic towels from the bins while I was checking out with Charlotte's nightgown.  Pretty cool little washcloths. 

The trip was another amazing success.  The kids, with the help of all the wonderful pictures, will remember this trip for a long time.  You can't not enjoy a trip the happiest place on earth. :)