Plumpton Park Zoo

Well, since Reagan still hasn’t decided to make her grand appearance, we decided we’d try to encourage her along by walking around the local zoo on Saturday.  Now, when I say zoo you may be conjuring up images of Hogle Zoo or San Diego Zoo or something.  Well out her we have the Plumpton Park Zoo.  This is more like the back yard of an old house where the people who inherited it decided the tax write off for donating it as a shelter for a few animals would actually be more lucrative than trying to actually sell the old house and barn.  With your expectations set appropriately, it was actually a really fun place to go visit.

Up until now, most of Tyler’s experiences with animals came from story books and farm puzzles.  It was really fun to have him see the real thing.  To our surprise, he knew to say “Qua, Qua” (Quack, Quack) when he saw the ducks.  Of course he also said “Qua, Qua” to the Ostrich’s, the Swan’s, and pretty much anything else with a beak.  I was going to correct him, but I couldn’t really figure out what the appropriate noise was for an Ostrich so we just went along with it.

Here’s some pictures from our little adventure…

Insert donkey (ass) joke here…

Grandma made sure Tyler saw the kind of things he would see in Utah.

There’s a Turtle in one of Tyler’s books but it’s all multi-colored and has a big smiley face.  It was good to see Tyler learn what a real turtle looks like.

The timing worked out pretty well so that by the time Tyler was tired enough that I started carrying him on my shoulders he was held high enough to be able to get a closer view of the Giraffe.

It only took Tyler a little while to warm up to being so close to the animals.  He did really good to hold the food pellets and let the animals eat it out of his hand.  To my amazement, he never cried even when he was a little nervous.  Here he’s showing Mom his new goat friends.

Now time to show Grandma.

Surprisingly Tyler was fine getting right up close to the Goats and letting them eat out of his hand.

Too close…Too Close…

Last but not least, my favorite picture from the whole trip.  What a cute little monkey.

It really was a fun trip and Tyler was such a good boy with all the animals.  Unfortunately in spite of all the walking there was no unusual activity for Reagan so we’re still anxiously standing by.  I’m sure it won’t be too much longer though.  I can say that because it’s not me that’s getting punched in the bladder.