Reptile Gardens

Our family loves trips to the zoo. We go to Omaha or Lincoln's Zoo as often as we can. One thing we really wanted to do was to get to Reptile Gardens and see the unique collection of animals they had there. We arrive there at about 4 PM and though everyone else headed out by 6, we didn't leave until after 7. We started by going to the snake show, which Bernadette found fascinating. After seeing that, we checked out the tortoises. Grandma and Grandpa have pictures of Papa as a little boy riding on a tortoise, but they no longer allow people to ride them. They do let you go in and pet them, but just watch your toes. If these big guys are up and walking around, they weigh over 600 pounds (one was 800) and so if they stepped on your toes, or worse sat down on them, it would be a very bad thing.

Bernadette and Clare pet a tortoise just after it laid down.

Clare was even brave enough to pet it's head. It probably didn't hurt that she didn't realize how sharp
and powerful their beaks can be.

Bernadette even helped Lissie pet the tortoise.

The girls waited with Grandma for everyone to be done with the tortoises.

While we were there, one of the female tortoises was digging a hole to lay eggs in. The zookeepers were excited about this because it means there might soon be baby tortoises for them to take care of. After the tortoises, we headed over to the Gator Show.

We waited patiently for the Gator Show.

They didn't seem too excited at first, but once the show started, the alligators and crocodiles started
really moving around.

The highlight of the show was when they let us all pet a baby alligator. Bernadette and Clare
fearlessly approached and petted the baby gator.

Felicity was a little apprehensive at first, but she finally did it.

Before heading out, we took a group picture. Just like the previous day, we all wore matching shirts.
These shirts were made to help us show our support for Great-Grandma Seger who is battling lung cancer.

After the group pictures, we headed to the dome for the inside exhibits. We grabbed ice cream cones
first, then posed for this family picture.

There were a lot of really neat animals inside, including a giant crocodile (over 21 feet in length). His name was Maniac. Other animals of note were a Komodo Dragon, some very large and very venomous snakes, a chicken who could answer questions (though she wasn't very good), a bird who could swing by his beak, and much more. It amazed us all how Felicity would run right up to big snakes in their exhibits and point her finger at them, yell at them, or even try to surprise them; all things you should never do to a snake. We really enjoyed our walk through the dome. 

Then came the tricky part. The girls had each been given money they could spend on souvenirs. Some had been spent at previous stops, but knowing this would be our last major stop, they wanted to make sure to spend what they could. It ended up taking over an hour, but finally everyone had things they were happy with. We had missed supper at the cabin, so we grabbed a bite on the way and headed for bed, calling it an early night before we had to get up early the next day to drive to Grandma and Grandpa's house.