Ella and Aidan had an absolute blast (until the last few minutes, but more on that later). We started off with the stroller, but quickly wound up ditching it and taking it back to the car. The kids hate the stroller, and the zoo was no exception. I cannot blame them - they want to walk, run and be able to check out all of the animals - not be strapped into some stroller.
Once the stroller was gone, we walked and walked and walked and walked. We saw elephants, lions, tigers, bears, penguins, giraffes, zebras, fish, monkeys (the baboons were Aidan's favorite!) and many, many more animals. As always, Ella and Aidan were very well behaved, even in spite of that amazing toddler curiosity.
Lions - even fake ones are fun!
First carousel ride (Ella called it flying!)!
Crocodile!
Checking out animals!
Ostrich!
Fish!
Elephants!
Mike and Aidan took a nice ride on a little train. Ella would not go near the train and was screaming in terror, clinging to my neck. She is so scared of loud things - vacuum cleaner, motorcycles, and apparently, trains. I managed to snap a few pictures, despite doing it one-handed with a screaming toddler on my hip with her face buried in my neck!
Riding the train!
And then we went into the gorilla exhibit...and the day took a drastic turn.
We were at the end of our visit - it was past nap time and the kids were beginning to get a little bit cranky, but we headed into the gorilla exhibit anyway - it was the very last stop - we had seen the rest of the zoo and figured that they could handle one more animal.
There was a large silverback sitting right up against the glass taking a nap. They were both amazed at him, and it was so funny to see Ella and Aidan's size compared to the gorilla!
Ella and Aidan climbed up onto a bench and before we could catch her, Ella fell off, landing on her back and smacking her head on the ground. It was a carpeted facility, but it was only so thick. She was terrified and screamed, clinging to me for a solid 20 minutes, before throwing up all over me.
Now, it should be noted that Ella DOES tend to throw up when she is really upset. However, having just bumped her head, we were very concerned about a possible concussion. After speaking with the pediatrician, we headed over to the local children's emergency room.
They decided to do a CT scan just to be on the safe side, and it came back clear and we were released to go home. She has been completely fine ever since and is back to her normal happy self, but it sure was a bit of a scare.
1 comment:
so sorry about your trip to the ER - When David was 3 he got knocked out cold and then threw up. Not a fun day I know. Glad she is better.
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