Wednesday, July 18, 2007

An Eventful Visit to the Zoo

Last Thursday we spent the morning at the zoo with my friend Kelly and her sister-in-law. Usually we go to the zoo during the week to avoid the crowds but on Thursday the place was packed! After asking several workers why the zoo was so busy, we found out the new Harry Potter movie was showing at the IMAX.
We had quite a trip that day. First, I lost Sophie. Completely lost her. We started taking the outside 2-mile loop when we found that our normal route was blocked due to construction. The kids were playing on a huge rock when I told them we had to turn around and go another way. We walked past the main building and around the lake stopping to look at the swan boats when I noticed Sophie was missing. Kelly ran further up the path, her sister-in-law stayed with the other kids and I ran back where we came from. When I got to the main building I ran inside to the information desk, reported her missing and gave a description. Then I ran back outside and around the building back to where we had turned around due to construction. There was Sophie, lying down on the big rock she had been playing on. She had been crying, but had stayed put and waited for me to come back. Needless to say, I was completely shaken and grateful she had the presence of mind not to go wandering off looking for us! We had a big review of the buddy system that day. Usually it is Johnny and Calvin that have a habit of wandering off and Sophie and Natalie are good about staying with me. Scary, scary start to our day.
We watched the bird show with our favorite bird handler - Dave. When he was showing the hawk the bird flew over the audience, up behind Dave and then dived for the end of a rope Dave was swinging which held a treat. He caught the target and then usually the hawk is pulled back down to the ground by the handler. However, this time Dave lost the rope and the hawk when flying into the audience right next to up whacking several people in the face and landing literally at our feet (we were in the front row). No one was hurt and Dave was mortified, but it was pretty exciting to see a hawk that close!
After our walk along the outside loop and through the sprinklers, I decided that I could not handle any more excitement that day and we headed home.









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