ZOO CREW

We FINALLY made it to the Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho Falls for the first time since moving to Idaho. The kids LOVED it, so we bought a year pass so I could take them regularly. We bought it on the last day the zoo is open for the season...but it's good until the end of next season, so we're okay. The pass is also good for free or reduced admission to zoos all over the country, including the Oregon Zoo, but we only live close enough to a couple to make it worth the trek.

Although the animals were really fun to look at, the highlight of the day for the kids was playing on the statues.

 And risking getting their heads bitten off for a drink of water.

I've decided to give awards to some of the animals that stuck out in my mind, for various reasons, at this zoo.


And the First Place animal awards go to:

The Flamingos and Penguins: tied, for the stinkiest zoo inhabitants.  

The Penguins: for the most-anticipated-yet-most-boring feeding show.

Watching the penguins get fed was kind of boring because they were hand feeding them one by one and marking on a clip-board which ones they fed. (We were hoping for a diving-and-eating-while-swimming feeding frenzy.)

The Lions: for the most-anticipated-yet-didn't-happen-before-we-got-bored-of-waiting-and-left feeding show
The lion and lioness were pretty cool since it was almost feeding time and the lioness was anxiously pacing from gate to gate, not sure of which door the food would come out of, but sure it was time to eat. The lion looked really bored and completely uninterested in her neurotic pacing and gate-rattling. Lazy boy anyway.

The Flamingos: for the cutest newborn
The Wallabies: for the biggest tease, since they were just a little too cute but a little too far away to ooh-and-aah over.

The Monkeys: for eating the nastiest, poo-looking treats
The black/white monkeys: for looking the most like skunks, since we have a soft spot in our family for smelly polecats.
The monkeys were the most entertaining, but their monkey biscuit treats looked too close to monkey poo for the kids, so the kids were a little disgusted watching them eat. Hy and I just thought it was cool that there are monkeys that look like skunks (black with white stripes).

The bird aviary: for the lamest display, since it was empty. We wanted to feed the birds nectar!
The Tortoises: for the best bumper car show. These tortoises were even equipped with massive spurs!

The Camels: for being the first Bactrian camels we've seen at a zoo (why do zoos always only have the boring Dromedary ones?)
The Kookaburra bird: for not counting us as gumdrops or monkeys as we admired his surprisingly large size for what we pictured in our minds while singing his song.