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September 10, 2016 - 11:24 p.m.
"bronx zoo" or "african wild dogs"

Hey Journal!

Wow! We had a really packed full of excitement day today! Dan and I got up around 9:00. We had set the alarm for 9:30 but we got up on our own and we got a little jump on things. It worked out well because our timing for everything else was perfect.

We got ready to go and then stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. I got the Big Breakfast with Hotcakes. We ate and then headed over to Target. We wanted to get a bag to put Connor's present in and I was hoping for one of those reusable bags. They didn't have ANY with cool characters on them so we just got a Target one.

We made our way out to East Meadow and then, before heading the field, we took a drive through Eisenhower Park to check out the Pokemon situation. I had hyped it up to Dan so much and I couldn't wait for him to see how crazy it was. Of course, that was not the case. There was NOBODY playing it today! What the heck!? There were also no Pokemon to find.

After that we headed to 7-11 and bought some bottled water to take with us because it was a really hot day. We only decide to do outdoor activities with Linda on the hottest days of the year. The first and hottest was Governor's Island and then this was a close second for the zoo!

As soon as we arrived at the field we looked for Connor's team. We walked around and didn't see them but then realized there were at the closest field to our car, we just walked right by! The first thing Connor said to us was, "I got two injuries in the first inning." First, he tripped over the base and then someone else slid into him and hurt his ankle! It's a dangerous sport!

One of the other boys on his team was crying because it was so hot. He said he was overheating and his mom told him to stop crying and dump water on his head. Then, the coach told another kid to be the catcher and he said he couldn't do it because he can't catch. Their team is really something this year!

Linda and Cameron arrived just as the game was ending and that was at about 11:45. We headed over to Linda's mom's house to leave our cars there and then we set out for our big day at the Bronx Zoo!

I hadn't been there since I was really little. I think maybe 3 or something...but maybe I was older. I don't really remember anything about it other than that I've seen pictures of myself there sticking my head out of a turtle shell! (I looked for the turtle shell this time and didn't see it! It may not exist anymore.)

So, Dan drove us to the Zoo it really wasn't that long of a drive. I had a ton of Pokemon sightings that started just as we crossed the bridge. First, there were about 7 Magikarps are we were waiting for the toll booths and then there were a lot of interesting ones as we made our way to the zoo parking lot. I caught a Pinsir for the first time!!

We parked the car and then headed to the "Zoo Entrance"! Dan presented his work ID badge and that got us four free tickets. They tried to upsell us for the "Total Experience" but that was totally not necessary!

Since we only had four freebies and six people, Linda bought kids tickets for Connor and Cameron. They were about $15 each, I think. As we walked in, I tried to hand all the tickets to the girl at the gate and one of them didn't have a barcode on it. Weird! They just let us in without scanning it!

We started out by visiting the Madagascar exhibit and using the bathrooms there. Then we checked out the Sea Lions, Birds of Prey, Aquatic Bird House, and made our way around the see the rest of the animals. We saw the bison, more birds, Tiger Mountain, bears, baboons, and lions.

While we were checking out the baboons, we saw these little animals that almost looked like gophers and Cameron said they Hyrax. Turns out she was right! I had never even HEARD of a Hyrax before!

Next up we took a ride on the Monorail. We had four free tickets for that and Linda had to get two more for $5 each. We rode the monorail which was about 20 minutes long. I always see it from the street when we're coming back from Aunt Chickie's house and I felt like I needed to do it. We saw some interesting animals along that ride...there were elephants, so weird wild pig things, and a lot of deer.

Back on the trail we saw the Zebras and then, much to Connor's delight, the African Wild Dogs! The entire time we were walking around he kept asking when we could go see the African Wild Dogs! And later, when we asked him if he could be any animal, what would he be, it was no wonder he picked the AWD! He was obsessed! So, we finally got to them and they basically look like regular dogs. They were spotted and striped a little. They were just running around. Another animal I had never heard of before today!

See, go to the zoo and learn something new!

We saw some giraffes after that and then headed to the Mouse House and the World of Reptiles. The zoo closed at 5:30 but all the animal exhibits closed at 5... which is a little weird, doesn't that mean that the zoo closes at 5? Anyway, finished up at about 5:45 and headed for the car.

We wanted to go out to eat somewhere on that side of the Throgs Neck because anything away from home is more exciting!

Dan investigated some brewery-type places and we settled on one in Tuckahoe. It was about 15 minutes north and so we made our way there. There was no way of knowing this beforehand but it wasn't a GREAT place, it was okay, though. I got a grilled cheese sandwich and it would have been good except it was cold.

After dinner it was almost dark out and we hit the road to home. We got back to Linda's mom's house and picked up our cars and then went to Wendy's for some 50 cent Frostys!

We got back home around 11:00 and showered up. Now it's time for bed and we are EXHAUSTED! The day really knocked us out. It was jam-packed and, of course, HOT!

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)