On Saturday the 8th we decided to go to Fresno’s Zoo. The Chaffee Zoo is located within Roeding Park, which is beautiful and reminds me of Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg. Carl and I thought it would be nice to have a family day, plus we had a coupon for the zoo.
We arrived around 11:30, picked up and map and started walking. The first stop was at the reptile house.
It was very cool. There were various kinds of snakes, spiders, lizards, and insects there. Most of the displays were native to California, rural California I’m sure! Afterwards, we made our way around to see the elephants. Joel and Kezia had never seen elephants before and loved watching them trundle along. Another neat thing at the zoo was all the bamboo that was planted along the perimeter of the paths. Joel was convinced it couldn’t be real, until he reached out and touched a stalk. Then he pretended to be a panda bear for the next 20 minutes.
We stopped and saw the orangutan and marveled at his size. His head was huge! The kids thought the lemurs and the giant anteater were hilarious. We stopped after about 90 minutes and had a banana and some water to drink. Asha had a snack too and a cuddle.
The zoo had a number of different interactive stations. One of them was a giraffe feeding station. For $2 a person, you could go up and feed the giraffe. Well, of course we weren’t going to pass up this opportunity. It was so neat for Joel and Kezia to have that experience. Next we went to Stingray Bay where for another $1 per person you could lie down and dip your hands into a salt water bath and touch stingrays.
Joel was able to have a touch, but Kezia’s arms were too short to compete with the bigger kids. She was thrilled none the less to be so close to the stingrays. After they washed their hands, we headed to the farm pen to brush the goats. 
These goats are obviously very familiar with people and young kids because they didn’t even flinch when a little one toddled over to brush them.
We arrived around 11:30, picked up and map and started walking. The first stop was at the reptile house.
It was very cool. There were various kinds of snakes, spiders, lizards, and insects there. Most of the displays were native to California, rural California I’m sure! Afterwards, we made our way around to see the elephants. Joel and Kezia had never seen elephants before and loved watching them trundle along. Another neat thing at the zoo was all the bamboo that was planted along the perimeter of the paths. Joel was convinced it couldn’t be real, until he reached out and touched a stalk. Then he pretended to be a panda bear for the next 20 minutes.
We stopped and saw the orangutan and marveled at his size. His head was huge! The kids thought the lemurs and the giant anteater were hilarious. We stopped after about 90 minutes and had a banana and some water to drink. Asha had a snack too and a cuddle.
The zoo had a number of different interactive stations. One of them was a giraffe feeding station. For $2 a person, you could go up and feed the giraffe. Well, of course we weren’t going to pass up this opportunity. It was so neat for Joel and Kezia to have that experience. Next we went to Stingray Bay where for another $1 per person you could lie down and dip your hands into a salt water bath and touch stingrays.
Joel was able to have a touch, but Kezia’s arms were too short to compete with the bigger kids. She was thrilled none the less to be so close to the stingrays. After they washed their hands, we headed to the farm pen to brush the goats. 
These goats are obviously very familiar with people and young kids because they didn’t even flinch when a little one toddled over to brush them.
Now at first I was wondering why everything cost at the zoo. We had already paid our $3 for our vehicle to enter Roeding Park. Then we paid another fee for us to get into the zoo. And if we wanted to participate in any of the interactive stations, we had to pay another fee. I’m from Winnipeg; I don’t pay anything extra for things! But then as I looked around the zoo, I noticed it was a very nice, well kept zoo. And of course you need money to pay for things to be maintained. That’s how a zoo can improve and keep the animals happy and the displays interesting. Maybe the Winnipeg zoo could get on board with that concept, but unfortunately not before Winnipeg people are willing to pay a bit more. Oh well.
While we were all busy looking at animals, Asha was busy herself. She discovered her hands on Saturday. It was amusing to see her try and focus on her fist. Her eyes went crossed and her tongue was sticking out in concentration. Now we’ll see if she finds her left hand this week.
We left the zoo around 2:30, all hot, tired and hungry. We drove back south towards home and decided to stop to eat at Pho Noodle House. The soups were very tasty and cheap. The bill came to $17. You know an Asian restaurant is good when all the local Asians come to eat there.
Once we got home, we all collapsed into our bed and had a long nap. We didn’t wake up until 6:00 p.m. We had a late supper of hamburgers and then joined the rest of the people in the Court for ice cream outside. It was a really nice day.
While we were all busy looking at animals, Asha was busy herself. She discovered her hands on Saturday. It was amusing to see her try and focus on her fist. Her eyes went crossed and her tongue was sticking out in concentration. Now we’ll see if she finds her left hand this week.
We left the zoo around 2:30, all hot, tired and hungry. We drove back south towards home and decided to stop to eat at Pho Noodle House. The soups were very tasty and cheap. The bill came to $17. You know an Asian restaurant is good when all the local Asians come to eat there.
Once we got home, we all collapsed into our bed and had a long nap. We didn’t wake up until 6:00 p.m. We had a late supper of hamburgers and then joined the rest of the people in the Court for ice cream outside. It was a really nice day.
1 comment:
Ooh -- when babies discover their hands, it's so fun!!
Looks like an awesome time at the zoo. We still want to take the girls to the zoo yet this fall...
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