Zoo A La Carte

At the end of August the zoo always hosts Zoo A La Carte, an event where food vendors come in and the zoo stays open late so people can sample different food and see different aspects of the zoo. It seems like this is the event, more than others, brings people to the zoo that don't normally come. It's a pretty crowded event, but that does not deter from the fun (at least not for me).

This year we went with Paul (Katie met up with some of her friends) and our friends Dennis and Christine. We walked around, ate, and had just an overall really good time. It was great weather and there seemed to be (although I could be wrong) more food vendors this year.

While we were waiting for everyone to get there, Paul, Timmy, Erik, and I decided to go through the monkey house. There was a train exhibit set up and so we took Timmy to see it. At first he was a little hesitant but after a while he figured out what was going on and really embraced it. In fact, he embraced it and loved the trains so much that he threw a fit about leaving. Yeah, it was awesome. He did eventually calm down but we decided that one fit like that was enough so we didn't go back in once everyone was there (sorry Dennis and Christine).

We walked around the zoo for about 5 hours. Timmy didn't get a nap, but besides the meltdown at the train exhibit he did really well. We tried a few new things with him but none of them took. Oh well. Here are some pictures from the event:

Timmy and the train exhibit

Timmy playing with the mining activity

Now you might think by this picture that Timmy actually took a ride on the ponies, and you would be wrong. This is me attempting to have Timmy ride a pony (because he begged Erik to let him) but he wouldn't really sit down and freaked out when I tried to walk away. We were able to get a refund (and we filled in our information on a mostly filled up sheet, so we weren't the only ones that got a refund that day!).

Christine, Dennis, and Erik in the Birds from Down Under exhibit

Paul feeding some birds in the Birds from Down Under exhibit

Erik and Dennis both feeding birds in the Birds from Down Under exhibit

Erik thought this picture was hilarious!