Tropiquarium

All week long Brian and I were discussing doing something fun this weekend. Well, James was sick all week and then the weather was super cold and windy this weekend and the missionaries called on Friday night wanting Brian to go to a discussion with them on Saturday. Well, needless to say, I thought our good intentions had been thwarted. But then Saturday morning rolled around and James seemed to be improving quite a bit (it probably helped that he slept from 7 pm till 8:30 am) and then we got word from the missionaries that Brian was not needed so we decided to head out to the Tropiquarium. Which we chose to beat the freezing weather. The Tropiquarium is basically a tropical zoo. With a few twists. It is located mostly indoors in big greenhouses so it was nice and toasty. They had all sorts of fun animals and we all enjoyed ourselves checking out the animals. Well, Brian and I enjoyed the animals and James enjoyed everything. Here he is checking out some lizards in the background.Here is a chameleon that I thought was cool. I really like the way their eyes move and nothing else. I wish I could see what was happening behind me without having to turn around.Oh, and since I usually remain undocumented on these types of outings I decided to take a pic of me just so I would be able to say that I was really there. Silly hu?On a random note, there were penguins at the Tropiquarium. Which I found to be a bit of an oxymoron since I personally associate penguins with cold places. Still, it was cool that they were there.James and Brian checking out the penguins.James would have been content if we had just let him wander around without interference exploring all the random things that kids his age find interesting. Here he is playing in the dirt in the huge aviary.
There were some pretty cool birds in the aviary but I was having issues getting any good pictures (as you can plainly see). I need a new (faster, better, fancier) camera asap. It is on my list but so are a million other things. Apparently my worries about remaining undocumented during this outing were unfounded as here is a picture of me with James. James "running" down the wooden path.
James stopping to explore everything along the way. Yes, that is snow in the background. And can you guess what kinds of birds were on display in the snow? Flamingos! Apparently they can handle the Swiss cold as well as the Florida sun. Who knew?OOhh, and the crocodiles. Don't they look scary? They do in person. If I couldn't see them breathing then I would swear they were stuffed. They can be so still. Sneaky animals. James leaving with the stuffed snake of his choice. He chose it by sticking it in his mouth. We are suckers when it comes to getting him stuff. It is just so fun to buy him things.

Other fun animals at the Tropiquarium: Fish, Lizards, Turtles (small, medium and gynormous), Ostriches, Snakes and Frogs. That is all I can think of right now. I'm certain that as soon as I publish this post that I will think of more.

We will be going back as there is a regular zoo located next door to the Tropiquarium and we bought a double pass. It is good for a month so we will go back some Saturday when it is warmer. All in all, it was a good day. Except that James only slept for 45 min. in the car on the way home and then refused to take another nap. He is pretty much down to one nap at this point but I can't complain too much as he went to bed on Saturday night at 7pm and didn't get us up till 9:10am today!! Yes, you read that right. He slept 14 hours last night! That is the end of a successful and fun day!