Memberfest

After complaining for an entire month that we had no evenings to relax together at home because Jon was busy directing the music for the musical, tonight was our first night to return to normalcy. So what do we do? We went to the zoo with Cortney's parents! Tonight was actually the "I'm a member and I want special privileges" night at the zoo--meaning that the park was open to members only for three hours in the evening, complete with animal feedings, puppet shows, and live music. While we did not partake in the live music nor the puppet shows, we did greatly enjoy the feeding of the animals--I had a gyro and Jon had a cheeseburger (thanks, mom and dad). After securing our own dinners, though, we all really enjoyed watching the wolverine mom and babies get treats from a bike-riding zookeeper. The best part of that display wasn't even the feeding itself, but the behavior exhibited by the mother before the treats arrived. She started getting antsy about ten minutes early, and she knew which direction to watch, too. She would run (lope, actually) around the enclosure, pausing on top of rocks to look far into the distance. This is where a picture is worth a thousand words. As the hour drew nearer she began to stand sentry on top of those rocks, and bouncing as high as she could to watch for the arrival of her food. When he finally did bike up to the enclosure, she knew him right away. The sweetest thing about it? After he threw the treats in, she let the babies eat first.
And who has ever seen a hippo try to eat a whole watermelon? A half hour later, in another part of the zoo, Jock the hippo waited, mouth agape, for his own special treat. Unfortunately for Jock, he's not a good catch. Nor is he a neat eater. He scooped up the watermelon that landed in the water and, in one closure of his giant mouth, crushed the melon, turning the water around him red. The remains of carrots and lettuce floated all around him in the wading pool. Okay, that may be a little dramatic, but not as dramatic as the half hour wait in line to take the train ride back to the front of the zoo. We could have been in the car and half way home by the time we boarded the train, but the tunnel WAS a lot of fun.