A BIRTHDAY AT THE FOREST PARK ZOO!!!

Waaayyyyy back in March Ken's youngest grandson, Wyatt, had his 4th birthday .. his mother, Elizabeth, had planned a really neat party for him at the Forest Park Zoo!!  But .. alack and alas .. as luck would have it .. that's when we got probably the worse snow of the Winter!!  And the Zoo was closed the day we were supposed to have the party!!  Soooooooo .. we celebrated Wyatt's 4th birthday Sunday .. June 9th .. at the Forest Park Zoo!! 

A beautiful sight as we were walking in ..

Of course there were beautiful sights everywhere!! 

THE BIRTHDAY BOY!!! 

The group of party goers was meeting at the Insectarium at 10:00.  Wyatt is a boy who loves to climb and he had a great time climbing on this giant insect while we waited for everybody to arrive!!! 

See the antennaes on Wyatt's head????  Each of the kids attending the party got a pair of antennaes to wear!!   Grandpa was just a little nervous about his youngest grandson doing all that climbing!!!  I think he must have forgotten how much little boys love climbing!!! 

Once the party was all together the zoo guides took us into the Insectarium for a tour ..

Grandpa was whining about not having any antennaes so his oldest grandson Nick took pity on him and gave him his .. LOL!!

Look at this little tiny Ant carrying this great big piece of leaf!!  This is a glass case with many Ants and most of them going up and down this limb carrying pieces of a leaf that were much much bigger than they were!!! 

We saw a Butterfly just coming out as we were standing there!!! 

There were many sights to see in the Insectarium .. waaayyy too many to get pictures of all of them!!  After our tour of the Insectarium we were taken through the Butterfly House.  There were beautiful flowers and Butterflies everywhere!!! 

After the Butterfly House we gathered outside for a walk to the "party room"!! 

Wyatt and his good friend Cameron!

Ken is telling Nick Thanks for giving him his antennaes and Nick told him "that's ok Grandpa .. I'm too grown up and mature to wear antennaes" .. LOL LOL LOL!!! 

Time for playing games!!! 

These two little ones were absolutely adorable .. the little boy kept coming over kissing the little girl .. at first she would put her arm around him and give him a kiss or a hug .. after about the 5th kiss she had had enough of it and started pushing him away .. he didn't cry .. he just went toddling off to see what the other kids were doing over there and Mommy went chasing after him .. soooo cute!!!  

Games are over for now and it's time for a little animal petting .. two fingers only so you won't scare them or hurt them!!!

The first animal was a nice big soft furry Rabbit .. the kids loved it!!

The next to be petted was a small Owl .. the kids loved this little guy too!! 

Next in line to be petted was a Bearded Lizard ... this guy looked pretty ugly to me but the kids seemed to love petting this one too!!! 

And the last guy in line for petting was a Snake .. 

 

 

It didn't take Sidney and Lydia long to decide they wanted nothing to do with petting this one .. I knew as soon as I saw it I wasn't petting it either .. LOL!!! Elizabeth (Ken's daughter .. NOT ME!!) loves snakes and couldn't believe that Sidney and Lydia didn't want to pet the thing!!!  The little girl with the pink headband and white bow in her hair was all excited about getting to touch it and could hardly wait for her turn!! 

The snake was the last of the petting session .. everybody lined up and headed into the bathrooms to wash their hands and get ready for  Birthday Cupcakes!!! 

Isn't this cute!!  They were actually about twice the size of a regular Cup Cake!! 

 

Mommy put 4 candles on Wyatt's Lion Cake .. Daddy was taking pictures too .. I hope his turned out better than mine!!! 

Mommy, Cameron and Sidney help Wyatt blow out his candles while Daddy takes a picture!!! 

After the Cake comes more games .. the kids take turns moving across the floor like animals move!! 

Would you believe that's Wyatt making that high jump?????

Yayyyyyyy Wyatt .. GREAT  JOB!!! 

The last fun of the day .. making "Slime"!!!  Each child got to take a ziploc bag of "Slime" home with them!!! 

The party is winding down and Wyatt's ready to get away from the crowd and the noise and have a little fun with his new truck on these giant puffy turtles!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY WYATT!!  

After leaving the party "Grandpa" and I headed for "The Rivers Edge" attraction .. 

If you look real hard you will see an Ant Eater way back there .. it had just come out of that dark hole in the wall on the left!! 

The Hippo pool

The Hippo is swimming with these fish!! 

This hangs outside the Hippo pool ...

It's a little bit sickening .. but interesting!!  NO .. I did NOT turn the wheel and "feed the fish" .. LOL!! 

This little girl's Mother said they had come all the way from Wisconsin to see the new baby Elephant!! I was really hoping Priya would be out so this family wouldn't be disappointed!! 

And just a short walk away .. here she is .. PRIYA!!   Priya was born April 26th and weighed in at 251 pounds!!!!

PRIYA'S DEBUT ..

Sad to say after I took this picture I discovered my camera battery needed charged .. I thought I had the extra battery with me .. and I did actually .. but it was in my purse in the trunk of the car waaayyyy out there in the parking lot .. NOT in the camera case I had hanging around my neck .. DUHHHHHH!!!  By the time we two oldsters got walked clear through "The Rivers Edge" we were getting a bit tuckered out anyway so we decided to save the rest of the zoo for another day .. a day when I would have my camera AND my spare battery .. LOL!! 

It was a terrific day .. Thank You Elizabeth and AJ .. a party at the Zoo was a great idea .. and HAPPY BIRTHDAY WYATT!!!