Lets go to the ZOOOOO!!!

* Sorry about the lack of correct sizing of the photos. I still wanted to make sure they were here for journal purposes.... click if you want to see full size and not cut off. Oh and the white stuff is sunscreen and in editing purposes have shown up. It was not there in real life.*

Yesterday Dallas thought we should take a totally random and fun trip to the ZOO!! We had a lot of fun and it was totally random but we had a great time.

The Phoenix zoo is privately funded so they try to keep the "natural" habitat of the animals. Not sure how natural it is to have a animal caged but they did a great job of keeping the park clean and it was very nice. (The Zoo in Salt Lake seems much better set up for kids who can't see so hot. Guess we will have to go see it in June.)

Because we didn't plan ahead to well we had to eat first thing when we got to the Zoo. We ate and got all sun blocked up (because we were in the high 80's) and headed off. First place we stopped was the Giraffe. It was close up for Dallas and I but we weren't sure exactly if Ty saw what we were seeing. He was blending with the background really well. I always keep some flashcards of animals in Tyler's back pack and decided I should pull them out as we see each animal in case he can't fully see them. He would point to the animal, we would show the picture. He would answer something back and we would ask him if he was done before we moved on. It was a awesome learning experience for him ( and us.. or me, on how to help him with his vision.) We were determined to get him to see some of his favorite animals ( the ones he does sounds and gestures/signs for) So we headed off to see the Rhino. The Rhino was close enough to see. Ty pointed and then he got scared. But he could see it.

The Rhino was pretty cool. He was huge and there wasn't much that you could have him mesh with in the back ground. Ty held on to the card and "talked" to us about it as we moved on.

The lion was out sitting on a rock but he was to far away and looked to much like his surroundings to really see him so we showed him the card, pointed, let him look around and waited till he said he was done.

This continued till we got to the baboon cage. The Baboon cage they were close enough that he could see them. In fact they were right up against the window. Once the crowd thinned out enough we were able to work our way up to the window and see the baboons which we called Monkey's given that they are in the same family.

Ty was pointing, talking and telling us that he could see it. He was showing me and his dad where the "monkey" was. He was very excited. ( and notice he is wearing his glasses. He had NO problem while we were there!!)

Another shot with him watching the Monkey. *no that is not blood on his hands, its pizza that he wouldn't let me wash off.... pick you battles wisely people*

The baboon that was up to the window. He was very content and it was pretty cool.

The next stop we went to the monkey cage. This is a place that they run free and you are on a trail with monkeys going all over above you. Being told to watch out cause they pee on stuff and poop on ya. They were in the trees, on the ground all over. They were a little far but we hoped Ty could see them.

While there a really nice looking zoo keeper lady was standing there and I asked if there was any way or any exhibit that we could get up close so that Tyler could see some of the animals we came to see. She told us there was an off exhibit of little monkeys she would love to take him to. She said we would meet at the elephant exhibit.

We got to the elephant exhibit kinda stunk. Literally. They had ONE elephant behind a HUGE fence and you couldn't see it. We were bummed. Then the zoo keeper girl showed up and took us to see these monkeys.

Here are the up close monkeys that Ty was able to see. There were three of them. They lived in a cage off the path of the regular exhibits. They were there because one of the monkeys had seizures.

We were really really close. We were right up to their cage where we could put our hands on the cage and everything. At first Ty was totally fine with the monkeys and they crawled around us and he was able to see them up close.


But then the monkeys started talking and making noise and he was all about having Dad save him. Ty is a little sensitive to the sounds of things. We are still working on that one. But he gave a huge hug to Dallas * which dad NEVER complains about* and he watched from afar. I was enthralled with these little monkey's. They are like the monkey's on friends. That people think are good for pets.

The last photo is the monkey that was the reason they were separate from the other Monkey's. This monkey is "different" and has seizures. He would be going about his business in the other cage and fall off while people were watching. They needed to keep him safe so he was moved into this cage. They have nets on the bottom to catch him. They have to put friends in with these kinds of monkeys because if they are alone they tend to go a little crazy. It was interesting to see that this special monkey came right up to Ty and just stared. That little monkey totally captured my heart.