Saturday, April 12, 2014

Oh City Creek

Seriously. After a fabulous dinner with friends at the Blue Lemon we watched the fountain show.

Apparently they do a fountain show, choreographed to music, every hour on the hour. They start adding fire at 7:00 and then at 9:00, right before they close, they do all the shows (to go out with a bang).
We were lucky enough to be there right at 9:00 and watch all the shows. We loved them! I can't believe of all the times I have been to City Creek I haven't ever seen them before!
Madison was so tired but could not miss watching the lights, the water, and the fire. Her eyes were huge and serious the whole time. <3
Seriously awesome free entertainment in Salt Lake City. We will be visiting the City Creek Fountains again soon!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Honolulu Zoo

I wasn't really too excited to visit the Honolulu Zoo. I figured if you have seen one zoo, you have seen them all. I guess that's not true, but we have the Hogle Zoo so close to us here, that I wanted to do things that I couldn't normally do - like play in the ocean, snorkel, and scuba dive. But Mike's family wanted to go, so we joined them in order to have some quality family time.
The sign says, "Honolulu Zoo * This is the best Zoo to be found for 2300 miles in any direction." Obviously the people at the Honolulu Zoo have a sense of humor because there is no other zoo within 2300 miles. Hee Hee Hee.
Also, the Honolulu Zoo is only 3 feet above sea level. Very interesting.
We want Madison to be a traveler, since it's something that we both love so much. Every time we saw a sign like this, we took her picture by it. I am sure that 100% of the time she was sleeping, but oh well, it was fun for us.
Flamingo at the Honolulu Zoo.
Banyan Tree(s):
This bird was just roaming around where people walked. I kinda liked its uniqueness (as opposed to what I would see in Utah):
My favorite part of visiting the zoo was watching the sloth walk across it's cage. We got there at perfect timing to see it walk from one end to the other and it was seriously sooooooo slow. Mike caught a tiny bit of it on video. It was pretty awesome to watch though.
Golden Tamerin:
Komodo Dragon:
The world's largest lizard, the komodo dragons are 9 to 10 feet long and weigh up to 300 pounds. It was previously thought that the bacteria in their mouths caused their victims to die when bitten. In 2009, it was discovered that they also secrete a venomous bile that acts to prevent blood clotting causing a drop in blood pressure. That, combined with the bacteria, eventually causes the prey's death.
There were tiny little lizards all around the zoo, just sun bathing on the rocks. Kinda fun :)
Roseate Spoonbill:
Toco Toucan:

Turtles sunbathing on a branch in the water:
Ring-Tailed Lemur:

 African Hunting Dog:
The scientific name "Lycaon pictus" means "painted wolf" because this species is covered in 'a furry version of combat fatigues.' This endemic dog of the African savanna, unlike most candid species, eats only meat.

 This is my absolute favorite pic of the gorillas:

 Black-Handed Spider Monkey:
 Interesting... a garden of bird houses?!

 African Lions:

Siamand Gibbon:



I think that Mike & I would go back to the Honolulu Zoo again if we had the chance. It wasn't anything super special but it was just a bit different than the zoo we have here. A couple of different types of animals. We ended up leaving really quickly because Madison's fever spiked and we wanted to get her back to the hotel to rest. I think it would have been fun to see all of the animals that we missed out on. One thing to mention though, parking at the Honolulu Zoo is RIDICULOUS. After driving around for like 15 minutes, we found a place that did valet parking. It saved the day.
At home rockin' the Honolulu Zoo Onsie: