Homeschool Day at Ft. Worth Zoo

Thursday was Homeschool Day at the Ft. Worth Zoo, so off we went! The weather was beautiful & there were so many great things to see. Our first stop was a Zoo Keeper talk about all sorts of zoo animals. Check out the number of homeschooling families! This was one of SEVEN full Zoo Keeper talk times, so just imagine how many homeschooled children were at the zoo. It was really neat to see so many of them!

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I'm always surprised at some of the random things Reese remembers. Back in September, when we went to the Dallas Zoo, Reese was fascinated with the aviary. Thursday at the zoo, all he wanted to do was "go to the aviara" (couldn't quite get the -ee sound at the end of aviary!). He had a great time feeding the birds with the seed sticks, and was so excited when a boy had one on his finger & he could pet it. Mommy does NOT like birds at ALL, so I was more than happy to leave the aviary! Growing up, my dad had this horrible parrot named Birdy-Bird that would chase us around, cackle, & try to bite us. That kind of ruined my love for large birds...

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Comparing how far Reese could jump to the jumping distances of different animals.

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Our favorite animal of the day...the Gharial. I've never heard of such a thing, but these guys were so strange looking! Reese was very interested in watching them, & we were lucky when this guy crawled out to warm in the sun. We got a great look at his legs, skin, and especially his strange snout!

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In the Great Barrier Reef aquarium area, a Zoo Keeper had a table with all sorts of fossils that the kids could touch. This one was a tooth from a shark in the dinosaur-era. The Keeper told Reese "Put it by your face so your Mommy can take a picture!" And...he took her literally. Funny boy..

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So interested in the snakes. Especially this viper, who kept sliding all over the glass.

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Just had to snap this picture when Reese was entertained by a ladybug he caught. He must have watched it on his hand for 10 minutes, then off it flew!

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Pretending he's a termite in the termite mound display. He wanted Mommy to be the anteater...so you can imagine the smiles we got from other people as we're playing.

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Our last stop was the elephants, and we were there at just the right time. They had a painting demonstration scheduled and we just happened to be standing there when everyone came rushing over! Reese was semi-impressed...but it was 4 hours into our zoo day and he was ready to go home. I think we watched for about 2 minutes then we were gone!