It's all happening at the zoo

Did you know that the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha now has a huge new “Magrilla” exhibit? And don’t forget to see the “Fazebras” when you’re there.

We went on safari last Memorial Day weekend. We packed up all thee of our girls, two strollers and plenty of snacks in our minivan and took the hour and ha half trek South to visit the Zoo.
Some dear friends from Lincoln wanted to meet us there since we hadn’t seen each other in almost two years. They brought their own three kids, just one stroller, and plenty of snacks.
Leave it to someone who lived on the L.A. freeways for the better part of a decade to get lost somewhere between Council Bluffs and the big ‘O.’ Eventually that one wrong right turn was corrected by a series of left ones and we found ourselves in a long line outside of Rosenblat stadium’s parking lot.

Who knew that the first official Saturday of summer would be such a busy day for the zoo? Just because of the perfect temperatures, sunshine and breezes- you’d think that a hundred bagillion other families could’ve found something better to do.

After several serpentine loops around aisle after aisle I settled on a parking spot in the sun. Next would come the monumental task of unloading and then searching for the other half of our party. I was worried since we were so far from the zoo entrance and were now several minutes late. I had my binoculars ready.

Miraculously they pulled up behind us and began unloading just across the aisle. So together, like a team of intrepid explorers, both families set out, pushing their strollers across the hills and valleys until at last we reached the front entrance and a line longer than the one at most movie theaters on ‘Star Wars’ opening day.

Someone whispered that the line at the other entrance was only 3 miles long, rather than nine. So we quickly gathered our teams and sprinted downhill across the zoo’s own filled to capacity parking lot.

Eventually we got inside, used the restroom and headed straight for dairy land, where our kids could see the exotic animals that they only get to see say once or twice a week on the farms around where they live.

We asked Ellie, our 3 year old what one animal she most wanted to see. She quickly answered, “The Plumink-goes, because they’re PINK! My favowite color!”

We saw Pumink-goes, and we even talked her into seeing the “Bugrillas” (or Magrillas) although she was afraid of them at first.

We have 3 girls. Our friends have 2 boys and a girl, so it was important to visit the scary, creepy animals in the “Kingdoms of the night” exhibit under the Desert Dome.

The moms took the opportunity to feed the baby and keep the 2 year old girl safe and un-frightend. If you think it’s difficult to keep track of 4 little kids in a crowded public place, you should try it in the dark.

After lunch we braved the Antarctic tundra and the ocean depths. This was harder than you’d think because there was standing room only- and I don’t just mean on the penguin’s ice flow. Apparently it was feeding time for the sharks and Nebraskans and Iowans seem to love to watch fish eat.

You know, the Antarctic gets surprisingly hot when it’s filled with half the population of two states. But it was worth it for the kids to get to see “Nemo” and his friends and many of the inhabitants of Spongebob Squarepant’s home town, Bikini Bottom.

We marched on to see Rhinos and elephants and bears and sea lions and monkeys and birds of all kinds. You know, the hills weren’t all that bad inside the zoo, really, but by God that hike back to the cars was something that even a seasoned shurpa from Mount Everest might fear.
All in all it was a great day, although ever since then, Ellen has been asking us why Charter Oak doesn’t have it’s own zoo. We tell her to take it up with her Uncle Cory who’s on City Council.
After seeing everything from Orangutans to Giraffes from all seven continents and four oceans, we asked Ellie what her favorite animal was at the whole zoo. She answered immediately, “the goat.”