Zoo time

We liked visiting with the little animals so much we decided on a trip to the zoo.

We hadn't seen the giant panda cubs yet, so we thought we would see them first. Especially when the sign at the door said there was only a 15 minute wait.

 

So we waited

 

And waited

And waited
(This is what Katheryn looks like right before we go in, after waiting over 1 hour)

But we did get to see the 2 baby pandas

 

We got 2 minutes before we had to move along.

I think we got a bit extra time to let Nick get up in his wheelchair so he could see

 

And one of the adult pandas was in the other exhibit

Katheryn liked climbing on everything that she could find

And Nick found the river full of fishes

We stopped for Beaver Tails before seeing more animals.
And we took a break from the sun

And Katheryn found that she actually does like to try new things. And inhaled her Beaver Tail

We went to see the Polar Bears (Katheryn's favorite). But they weren't really out

Since we stopped Nick wanted to stretch his legs with his crutches.
He has gotten so incredible with his crutches he didn't actually want to get back into his chair.

Katheryn had lots of fun and even posed for a picture with minimum complaint.

We got to see Nick's favorite animal, the penguins.

They really liked playing with the stands that are at the exhibit and not so much the penguins themselves.

And Nick wanted to walk around the exhibit all by himself. (Katheryn took his chair so I didn't have to push it. But she was a little bit afraid of the hills)

The penguins weren't swimming today. But the kids like being underwater.

For our last animal we decided to visit the new lion cubs.
Again Nick didn't want anything to do with his chair.

it took a couple of minutes waiting for a window spot but Nick was able to get up close to these graceful creatures (Katheryn wasn't that interested)

 

Rory sleeps just like this

Nick walked so well with his crutches. He was just go go go!
Not only does he walk with them, but he runs with them!

You would think that after the day at the zoo and all of his walking that this boy would be tired.
Nope he decided to show off by walking up the stairs all by himself

He was so proud of himself!

Animals everywhere

For Katheryn and Nick's cousin Austin's birthday party he wanted to have animals and Zoo to You came to their house.

Katheryn and Nick were very interested in the animals

And they got braver as the day went by

 

As everything went around they had the choice to sit on their hands (if they didn't want to touch anything). Or they could pet whatever animals was there

I think Katheryn pet almost everything that came out

And Nick touched almost everything as well.

He wasn't too sure about some of the bigger ones

And Kyle got to hold the alligator.

The birthday boy had the most terrified look on his face holding the 'gator. (And Katheryn snuck in a quick pet)



Definitely some animals lovers here!

Panda Pandamonium!

We had the opportunity to get some tickets for a Panda pre-show and the Toronto Zoo!

 

We decided to get the first tickets available, 9am.

We started to line up at 8:20, along with about 20 other people. By the time they opened the door at 9am exactly, the line up went all the way out to the parking lot, and was full of not-so-happy people, considering the zoo knew how many people expected to be at the exhibit by 9am.
Not only is there no bathrooms before you get through the gates, but we were full of children who were not happy to be waiting in a line up.

 

Come 9:01 we were through the gate.

So we now had 30 minutes to walk to the exhibit for our appropriate time.

 

There was a good set up, they had an exhibit full of educational stuff. We  practically ran through it, knowing we were already late. We noticed it and saw that it would be interesting to read – another time.

Got a quick picture of the kids in front of a cute panda.

In reality how much time can you spend looking at some – really cute – panda bears that aren’t really doing anything.

But we got to get close before the crowds really pushed in.

Nickolas had a lot of fun.

We talked all about what Panda’s eat. “Silly mommy, Panda’s don’t eat chicken wings, they eat bamboo”.

 

(See the little white spot on the rock - that's a Panda)

Niagara Falls - Animal Encounters

Today was the day that we FINALLY got to go to Marine Land!

This is the day that started our whole maybe we should go on vacation idea last month.

 

Everyone was so excited for today. Every time any of the Marine Land Ads came on the TV Katheryn will jump up and down and say "This is my favorite song!" And I was saying "This is my favorite song too!" And Nickolas says "This is mommy and Katheryn's favorite song!"

 

We talked about the rides, the animals and the shows. And we were up ready for some fun first thing in the morning. I had heard that the line ups got long.

We got a special wrist band for Nick. Marine Land has a accessibility feature that lets you go in the back line of the rides which is wheelchair accessible. Our plan was for one of us to go through the front of the line with Katheryn, and the other will meet up with Nick.

But Katheryn took one look at the rides...

And said NO WAY!

 

So Nick and I went on  2 of the rides together.


I had researched (of course) all of the rides and the height requirements so that I knew exactly all the ones each kid could go on. I even got everyone's height before we left!
We were so excited to get the kids on their first amusement park rides!
Of course (as we'll learn I'm sure over the years) kids will sometimes have their own ideas of what they do and don't want to do.

But Nick was still willing to try out 2 of the rides.

I think I did get some dirty looks from people who were waiting in line and we got ahead of them. I felt like I needed a sign attached to the wheelchair that said "I do it to jump line"

Katheryn and Kyle just sat and watched us!

Katheryn was holding out for the teacup ride, but we couldn't find it.

So we gave up on the rides and went to look at some animals.
We found some beluga's and killer wales.

Nickolas couldn't take his eyes off of them underwater!

Katheryn really, really didn't want to have her picture taken. Even though she was having alot of fun

 

 

And Nick just loved doing everything!

 

 

And getting up really close

 

 

So we thought, hey this is going well. Lets wait in a couple of lines for an hour so we can actually go and touch a beluga! The kids would love that! Right?

 

 

Well, someone LOVED touching a beluga (which feels like over-cooked hard boiled egg) and feeding him/her.

Notice how impressed Katheryn is, and how far Nick is trying to get from the whale?! (hiding behind the trainer-guy)

 

 

But we did get one family picture, and I picked the one where Nick is not crying. Afterwards Nick told us that the "whale scared me"

 So we finished with the touch a beluga, and I got to feed it fish too. We go out of the area and  wash our hands (apparently this was much more fun than actually touching a whale). Katheryn starts crying, "I wanted to feed the whale". No Katheryn, we just did that, you did not want to touch the whale, or get close to it. That  was your chance to touch the whale. "NO! I want to feed the whale".
Katheryn did not get a time-out, but she also did not get to touch the whale. I guess that is what it means to be 4.


We were able to distract them by watching this ride in the middle of the park called the Sky Screamer, where everyone goes up, up, up and then down, down, down. Really fast. Defiantly not a mommy ride.

We did find my favorite ride!
And Katheryn's favorite ride too.
We found the tea-cups!

And we went around, and around, and around in them!

 

Katheryn was just tall enough for them. So Kyle and Nick sat at the sidelines and watched us (and took some pictures)

 

Because Katheryn and I went through the ride 4 times!

Katheryn would have gone on that ride all day! But the day wasn't over yet! We still had lots more things to do!

Including meeting some black bears (? I have no idea what bears have to do with marine land - but they were there. Nick thought they were great!)

And they have a deer petting zoo (again deer - marine ?? I don't know)


Kyle and I both have heard the stories (and seen the pictures) from the deer feeding when we were kids and visited Marine Land. Including a deer trying to steal my blankie, and deers swarming Kyle and his brother.
So we were all prepared for the kids to be afraid or overwhelmed and that they might not like it
Wrong again!

 

Nick thought they were great, but they were a little uneasy about his chair. And Katheryn was very gentle and would try to get them to eat out of her hand.

 

No stealing, no swarming.

Then we had to rush, rush, rush for our last part of the day!

The show.

They LOVED it!

I loved watching the look of awe on their faces as they watched the marine animals swim and jump around.
I might have been watching the kids more than I watched the show!

Then it was time to check out the gift shop (and of course get something) and we were all ready for an early night!
Everyone had fun at Marine Land!

 

Because the fun isn't over yet! We have more planned for tomorrow!