The Park At Dark

The Wild Animal Park and the Zoo both have nighttime hours during the summer. We hadn't been yet, and it ends today, so we thought we'd check it out in hopes that going when the sun was down would make it more comfortable. It was better than going in the heat of the day, but it was still in the 90's at 8pm. I think it would be best to go in late June when a) it's not eight bajillion degrees outside and b) it's not actually dark at 7:30.

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So...since you really can't see too much, we took advantage of some of the other features of the park. Right across from this Discovery Station, a band had just come off break. Carly asked me what the noise was.

She is obsessed with the letter A.
Puppets!
Peekaboo
So cute! This is from the back of the puppet stage.
And then, without any encouragement, my little helper started singing the clean up song and she put all the puppets in the basket.
Right next to the Discovery Station was where they had the last Animal Encounters of the day. Carly was very excited to see whatever animal would come out.
They were a few minutes behind schedule, so Carly kept turning around and around saying "Ay-mal, where ARE you?" It was soooo cute.
Then she found some flowers. There was a brief period of dancing like a princess but my flash didn't set in time.
And then? When the animal DID come out of his hiding place? Guess what it was???
A hedgehog.
This may not be funny to most of you, but these little creatures are particularly funny in our family. We did learn that they are especially revered in Great Britain, and there is even a hospital, St. Tiddlywinks, devoted exclusively to caring for these injured garden animals. In fact, the rail lines an airlines in that country will transport one of these spiny little critters for free. The things you learn. =)
The rest of our visit was nice; we went on the Journey Into Africa tram and saw all of Carly's favorite animals: giraffes, a rhinocerous, some cows...it was pretty dark, but we did get to see most of the animals and she was chatty and fun.