Texas Day 3, Part 2 - More in Forth Worth

Hurricane Sandy (or was it tropical when it hit land) wreaked havoc on a lot of folks and I don't mean to belittle that. However, she also wreaked havoc on my social life. The last 2 weekends at my house were supposed to have been spent entertaining guests but instead they were spent running errands and life as usual. The first guest, an Australian friend, took her opportunity to escape the east coast with the threat of the storm and skipped her Boston leg of her travels. Last weekend, a friend from NYC was supposed to come up but due to gas shortages there was unable to get out of town.

I was really bummed to have missed both. However, dealing with the grief of losing our Oliver has been somewhat overwhelming...more so than I thought it would be. Motivation levels have been low as has productivity. So, in a way it was good to have the "extra" time to try and get a few things ticked off the task list. Somehow, catching up on my blog always falls to the bottom of the list. But I'm determined to finish blogging about our Texas trip. It was over a month ago now and I'm afraid all details will spill out of my brain come time to deal with the holiday season. So, off we go....back to Texas!

If you read my last Texas post, you've probably been sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what else we did while enjoying the sights of Dallas's neighbor Fort Worth. Or did you try and guess? Well, if you guessed the zoo, then you must read this here little blog pretty often. Yup, once again, we checked out the zoo.

I went to this zoo as a kid and I was hoping a flood of memories would come back once I saw this place. But no, there was not a one. There was absolutely nothing about that zoo that looked in the least familiar. That's probably for the best since the last time I went there was likely close to 30 years ago when zoos were not quite so hospitable to the animals.

We spent a good chunk of the day there. Saw lots of animals, did lots of walking around, had some lunch and generally had a good time (even the poor kiddos were pretty exhausted). And here are the highlights in pictures:

Cade LOVED the flamingos!
He giggled at them.

Gorillas

The orangutan would occasionally scoop up some water to drink.

This baby was jumping and climbing all over his momma.
I know the feeling all too well!

I can't remember the name of this antelope but the info sign
mentioned a special characteristic of its spine that allowed
it to stand like this. I'd never seen anything like it.

BIG Crocodile

Huge Tortoises

Dylan touched 2 different snakes.

Cade touched a tortoise shell.

Komodo Dragon (Real One)

Komodo Dragon (Fake One)

Feeding the Birds

Playing in the "Wild West"

The big cats are always favorites of ours and this zoo had its fair share of them.

Mountain Lion

Female Lion

PomPom....Er, I Mean Male Lion

Bobcat

Jaguar
(I can't say it without hearing the way it's said
 in the commercials - "Jag-U-R")

Tiger

White Tiger

This poor guy looked so hot.
I have no idea how he would survive the summer
if he was this miserable on only a "warm" day.

Elephants Taking a Dust Bath

After the zoo, we headed back to Big D. The fun wasn't over yet! My Aunt Pam came over and joined us for a pizza night. We must have been snapped out since I don't think I have 1 picture of Pam with the kids. How did that happen?!?! It's always a joy to get to spend time with her and we had a lovely evening. A very full Texas trip day 3 had come to an end. Next up, yet another long day filled with travel and family....