Jurassic Park

When we visited the Houston Zoo with my parents in March, we purchased a membership because we knew we'd be back multiple times.  A few weeks ago we received an invitation to a members only event - Zoobilee!  We thought it sounded like a nice early evening activity and registered.  Yesterday morning, we told Leighton that Daddy would come home early for work to pick us up to go to a special event at the zoo, and immediately he started firing off a rapid succession of questions all about it.  I told him that when Riley napped we could look on my computer to see if we could learn a little more about what special things would be happening.

He was pretty excited to learn we could get a sneak preview at a special summer installation called Dinosaurs.  And then he asked me numerous questions about what exactly this would include.  Considering I am also brand new to Houston and to the zoo myself, I couldn't answer him.  Didn't stop him from continuing to ask though!

Will they be real?  No, dinosaurs are extinct, remember?  

Well, will they be people dressed in costumes like at Sesame Place?  No, I don't think they would have people in costumes standing there all summer.  And they charge extra for this, so I assume it's more than just people in dinosaur costumes.

Will they just be big plastic ones that move?  No I doubt they will move, Leighton.

You know Daddy's jokes when we see animals and he says they are just fake with batteries?  Will the dinosaurs be like that?  I don't know Leighton.  But I don't think they will have batteries.

He did continue to ask (probably 526 times) if the dinosaurs would move.  And every time I answered that I didn't think so.  Why?  I have no idea!  I just didn't think they would.  I have no idea what I thought they would do.  I just didn't think they would move.  Well, I was wrong.  And I can admit it here for you all to witness.  Because it was like entering Jurassic Park!  They did move.  And make noises.  And hatch out of eggs.  And even spit water.  It was extremely impressive and highly entertaining.  And a little *too* realistic for our timid guy - he wouldn't get very close to any of them for photos at first!

Riley had a bit of a fever the night before, but we attributed it to teething since she was eating well and in great spirits all day yesterday.  Unfortunately, after our journey through the dinosaurs, she randomly started sobbing and we realized her head was starting to get really hot again.  It was close to dinner time and so we offered her some water and food.  Luckily, after a little snack, she perked right up and had a great time all evening.

Other than the Dinosaurs, they had passports for the kids to get stamps in at various different animal stations, children's DJs, games, prizes, snacks, and free rides on the carousel.  We got all 5 stamps in our passports.  We grooved a little to the music.  We gave the hula hoops a whirl.  We collected our prizes.  We most certainly had the pretzels and water they were giving out for snack.  But the carousel?  No go.  Apparently Mr-ride-25-billion-times-in-a-row at the New Orleans zoo, Sesame Place, and the Bronx Zoo last summer doesn't remember how much he loves carousels and wasn't sure he'd like it.  Next time, he said.  Truth be told, I wasn't heartbroken after seeing how long the line was, so I didn't spend too much time trying to convince him to give it a go!

After all of the fun we had at Zoobilee, I bet if you asked our two what their favorite part of the event was, they wouldn't say the dinosaurs or the music or seeing the animals.  They'd say running through the misting fans.  They couldn't get enough!