I was recently given the opportunity to do an insider’s tour of the Toronto Zoo and the Indian Rhino Exhibit recently – a close up and personal look at the Indian Rhinos at the zoo! I was so excited and then completely let down because I was not free to go to the event. Luckily, my good friend Cheryl from The Beautiful Side of Hectic was ready and willing to go – kids in tow 
Looking for new reading material? Check out Cheryl’s blog too where she blogs about her everyday with her two daughters, one of whom has Cerebral Palsy!
I’m very grateful for her going and I am really glad to hear her little girls absolutely enjoyed themselves (when they eventually were convinced to go) and that she had an amazing day out with her family.
Here’s Cheryl’s account of how the day went!
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First, let me begin by thanking Serena for letting me cover this awesome event for her! I’m very excited to be featured here. I do have my own little spot on the interwebs, but I love blogging other places as well! It was great to represent you, Serena!
A few weeks ago, when I was supposed to be blogging, Serena asked if anyone was interested in going to the Toronto Zoo for an event. Luck of the draw, I was online when she posted! I explained to my girls on Friday night that we’d go to the zoo in the morning. Lauren, my daughter, turned her nose up and said she didn’t want to go. Ok then… You, Jillian (my other daughter) and Daddy can stay home and I’ll go by myself. I’m sure I’d like it!
Sadly, the girls kibosh-ed that idea Apparently Mommy shouldn’t go to the zoo alone. They almost made it sound like they were doing ME a favour!
We arrived a little head of schedule, (for those of you who know me, this is a pretty difficult feat for me to master since I had the kids. Every second counts when I’m actually “early” now!) and were invited to have some small refreshments and to hear a little bit of an explanation about the Toronto Zoo. Since we were barely squeaking by in time, I brought my family in with me. Thankfully there were other children there, but Jillian decided to announce her displeasure during a 7 minute video about the zoo. I definitely wanted to crawl under the table when she asked me if it was done yet!
Since we were waiting for one more family to catch up with us, we were offered a ride on the carousel. Lauren had been talking about this all morning. She was pumped! Jillian at the time seemed excited, but wow, how quickly that changed! I think she just didn’t feel confident on it, regardless of my death grip around her waist. After Jillian’s 3 minute version of terror was over, we set out for our “Behind the Scenes” tour of the Toronto Zoo!
Here's the rhino we were greeted by. Isn't she pretty?!
The caretaker that was with the rhino fed her a yummy looking diet of carrots and apples as he answered questions that both the adults and the children were asking about her. Rhinos are really magnificent animals. They can run pretty fast when they want to and their “teeth” are actually tusks like the one you see on her head! Some rhinos will repeatedly rub their tusk on something to whittle it down a little bit.
This part of the tour was pretty quick, but it was really interesting to hear about this rhino from someone who works with her everyday.
Unfortunately, the rhino was the only animal we heard about on the “behind the scenes” tour. This was a shame because I was really looking forward to learning what the Toronto Zoo has to offer. This disappointment was quickly forgotten however, when we were set loose in the Zoo after the tour.
On this day out, I managed to meet one of my bloggy friends, Sheri ( Kidsummers) and talk shop for a bit – at least, just a little before Lauren interrupted me by saying she needed to go to the washroom! I swear we visited most of the bathrooms available at the Zoo at one point or another that day! :p
Sheri & I (I'm firing my husband as photographer. I'm slouching, funny smile and I just look weird.)
We definitely made good use of our passes at the Zoo. Included in the passes were free carousel rides (1 per person), zoo mobile tickets and tickets for the Sharks at Stingray Bay exhibit.
My children love to throw curve balls at me, so I was pleasantly surprised when both my girls were willing to touch the sting rays. The sharks didn’t come play though. I think they were shy.
One stingray seemed to have his own little personality, he would come up, lift is fin out of the water and splash us, repeatedly before racing off to find his next victim.
GIANT stingray.
So, thanks again, Serena for allowing me to participate in this for you! We had a blast!
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Thanks Cheryl for going on the trip! I am so happy your girls enjoyed the day and that as a family you had a splendid outing! If you are interested in what’s going on at the Toronto Zoo, feel free to check out their website for details!
