Gimping around the Wild Animal Park

On Hyrum's birthday, we finally got to visit our final park (remember we had to postpone it because of the rain?). Happy 31st Hyrum! Hyrum is 10 months younger than me, so for 2 sweet months, I don't have to feel like an old lady. We visited the Wild Animal Park, which, according to what I was told, originally began as the breeding place for the zoo. The whole gang was able to attend this time, including Steve and Cage. And yes, once again, my ankle was locked up. So... it worked fine for two attractions, and made me limp miserably for two attractions. Stinkin' thing! I contemplated renting a rascal scooter to ride on at the Park, but they were all out, so I just hoofed it. The lame thing is, when my ankle is unlocked, it works just fine and I can walk and run, though it's a bit sore and I have a small limp permanently it seems, especially when running. But when it's locked, I'm completely limited since I can't bend it past a certain angle. I walk like an elderly man, holding onto walls and people as I walk. Thank goodness Cage is my height so I could hang my arm over her shoulders and lean on her when we walked down slopes. We were all disappointed because though we had the temporary excitement of my ankle unlocking at the end of Sea World, giving us the hope of a pain free day a the next Park, it rudely locked up again during the night and remained that way the whole entire day at the Wild Animal Park and clear until the morning we flew back home. NOT fun!


Anyway, though I was gimping around, we still had a great time. We rode the carousel first thing, which ended up being a mistake because it made Hyrum a bit ill and irritated the rest of the day. (He's really sensitive to motion sickness.)


Tilly rode her favorite animal: the panda.

Even Kiersa got to ride, though she was having lunch at the time.

We see you, Tasha and Dru! Cage rode the spinning nest.

Hey, there's Steve!

After the carousel we took bathroom breaks (which were many since Hyatt is potty training and we were trying to keep him on track with that during our vacation...yeah, right!). Then the kids had a drink and Talea threw a fit. Steve wisely stepped back and watched it all from a distance as I prevented Talea from getting sympathy from Tasha.


While we were there, we found an appropriate "monitor" for Nial's current lifestyle!

Maybe he can bite Nial in the hind end each time he stresses out his mother.

Down the path was the petting zoo, which turned out to be an interesting experience because Hyatt found enough courage to pet AND feed the deer. If you know Hyatt very well, you know how unusual that is for him. Tilly's my animal child, not Hyatt. He was pretty hesitant, but I had to applaude him for making an effort to be brave.


I taught him to hold his hand flat so he wouldn't get his fingers nipped and then be scared of feeding animals forever.

But he didn't listen. Luckily, he came away unscathed.

Kiersa was pretty interested in them, so I helped her pet them too.


"Help me tip over Spongebob, Tilly!"

"Oh no! He's biting my head!"

There were lots of wild bunnies running around, so Tilly took chase after one. (You have to click on the picture to see the bunny.)

Tilly decided to take a break and lay a few eggs.

"Push!"

Feeding the Lorikeets was really fun, but you have to watch out for the poo falling from above. This is the second time Tilly has fed Lorikeets. She fed them up at the Oregon Zoo in Portland when I was pregnant with Hyatt.

Here's Portland.

Here's San Diego.

Again, Hyatt mustered up enough guts to have a close-encounter with an animal.

Everyone got a chance to hold the birds, except Tash and Steve.

Tasha held Kiersa for me instead.

There were even exotic wild ducks wandering free willing to eat our of your hand.

They must have been naughty like Pinocchio to grow such big ears.

Dru needed a boost.

The dads took a turn spinning the girls in the tortoise shell. First Hyrum...

Then Steve.


Fun with cousins.

They hatched! They're in a huge nest, but I can't remember what the birds were.


Peek-a-boo!

I see you!

My kids are cute earrings!

Let's not forget little Milly. She's small, but she makes some pretty cute faces!







The Wild Animal Park was neat, but we picked a rotten day to go, being a holiday weekend and all. It was crammed full of people, so we didn't get to ride the tram, and there were crowds everywhere. We didn't even see any shows. We'll have to go back there next time we visit. We did see the fire damage from the fires last fall. The fire came right up next to the park!

We hot tubbed that evening and discovered that Hyatt is a water maniac! He's completely unafraid to dunk and attempt swimming underwater, but Talea is still paranoid that we'll let her drown, so she won't dunk without serious coaxing and a struggle. I've got to get them into swimming lessons somewhere! If Hyatt's not too shy of the teacher, he'll do great! If Talea will release her death grip off the edge, she actually might learn something.