Famteam - How do you zoo?

Luke: Guys, ready to go to the zoo? David: Yup. Rick: Mom and I are headed over to St. Louis to the zoo on this -- almost a fall-like day in spring -- 60 degrees, cloudy. I'll be driving the van with Mom and the youngest seven, and Luke, and maybe somebody else, will be in another car. That way, if Luke and I have to come back and do work here, we could leave a little bit early. We might wind up staying, getting caught up in it, and staying the whole time. David: I think I'd like to see that Mississippi catfish. I haven't seen it yet, but I'd like to see it. Peter: I'm kind of looking forward to seeing the penguins. Luke: The little guys have collected quite a few stuffed penguins over the years, and have named them, and do a lot of role-playing. Peter: I think there are five main penguins. Luke: They all have their personalities and voices. Peter: See, this is Louie. "Hey-ma!" Poco. He's the second youngest. "I Poco." This is Benji. "Hey-lo! I Benji!" This is Fredrick. "I 'Frowick.'" And Pengy. He's the oldest. He's even older than Fredrick. "Hey-lo! I Pengy!" Luke: Evidently, a couple years ago, during a zoo visit, Peter saw a giraffe. Peter: I think I got mixed up with giraffes and zebras. >> Guys, what are those? Peter: A zebra and an ostrich. >> A zebra? Peter: Yeah. >> Are you sure those are zebras? Peter: Yeah. >> Are you sure those are zebras? Peter: Yeah. And there's an ostrich. >> Are you sure those things with long necks are zebras? Peter: Yeah. >> Aren't they something else? Peter: No. >> Aren't the zebras the things with black and white stripes? Peter: Yeah. >> So what are those? Peter: Giraffes. [laughing] >> Yeah, giraffes. Luke: It's so easy to get the two mixed up. Peter: I got mixed up with the names. Luke: "Wow, a tall zebra!" Peter: [laughing] I forgot. >> Yeah. Luke: Okay. Well, I guess we'll follow you guys? Cathy: Sounds like a good idea. Luke: All righty. Cathy: For us, this is kind of like our field trips for homeschooling. When the older guys were little, Rick would drop us off anytime he had a deposition in St. Louis. He'd drop us off at the zoo, or the Science Center, or someplace locally, and we would just enjoy the day while he was working. It was wonderful. And now it's been quite a few years since we've been out here, so the younger guys really haven't had that same experience, so we're trying to get this opportunity in to get them some more time at the zoo. Peter and David are especially excited about the penguin area. I'm hoping to see hippopotamuses. I think they're fascinating, how big their bellies are. I think it's going to really impress them. And they've never really seen one close-up. Oh, there's supposed to be alligators in here, guys. A chinese alligator. You want to look in there? Now, they don't make it easy to find them, of course. If you see something that looks like a log holding still, it might be a log holding still, or it could be an alligator. Seth: That's going to jump at us any second. Cathy: Oh, there it is! It's floating in the water on the right, guys! Can you see it? Jacob: Oh, I see him. Cathy: It's kind of disturbing how much they can hold still and how much you wouldn't notice them. Cathy: Okay. Now, where are we? Mary-Elizabeth: Right there. Cathy: We're there. Okay. Well -- and this is the Reptile House, guys. You want to go there first? Caleb: Sure. Cathy: It's going to be scary. Frogs, snakes, alligators. Seth: This is really something. It's very interesting how well these animals are able to blend into their environments. Jacob: I don't see it. Seth: We had quite a few instances of looking very closely, trying to find the animal, then finding it was looking right at us; it was right there, just a foot away. David: Whoa! Cathy: Whoa! Oh, look how many! [gasping] Look how big this guy is! I think this is called rush hour by the food. Seth: My favorite thing that I've seen so far is probably the giant "mountain chicken." I have no idea why that's called a mountain chicken. Jacob: Well, actually, the name "mountain chicken" is derived from the frogs' large size and the fact that it is hunted for food. Did you know that? Seth: Well, yeah, but a lot of things are hunted for food. They're not called chickens. This is a frog. Frogs don't have feathers. Cathy: King cobras. Now, do you guys remember what a king cobra does? This is venomous. What does that mean? Anybody know? Peter: What? Cathy: "Venomous." Peter: Yeah. It means it's poisonous. Cathy: Poisonous. Right. David, Peter! Luke: With a field trip, of course it's for fun, but it's also educational, part of a school field trip. So Mom's always good at really explaining to the kids what it is we're seeing, and it's a way to learn without kind of knowing you're learning, because you're having fun while doing it. Next, we're on to the Big Cat Country, so we'll see what we encounter there. And then later, I think we're heading over to the Primate House, so we might fit in there. Oh, this place smells bad. Whoo! Luke: On to the Primate House. If I remember right, that place doesn't smell too good. Seth: It smells very bad. Luke: So, Seth? Seth: Yeah? Luke: Do you smell something? Seth: Yeah. It's a good thing cameras can't pick up smell. Luke: Yeah. Rick: I think Forest Park here in St. Louis is bigger than Central Park in New York City. It's the scene of the 1904 World's Fair, made famous in the movie "Meet Me in St. Louis." Some of the original exhibits, such as the birdcage, are still here, from 1904. So it's a large, beautiful park, and the zoo is just one part of it. I hear a rumor that they're going to feed penguins at 3:15 or something like that, and we might want to take advantage of it. Okay, now it's going to get a lot cooler and smell a lot better. Rick? Do you remember where that big catfish was? Like what exhibit? Rick: I think it might be way over behind us. Cathy: But in what exhibit? What would it have been? Luke: David just told Mom and I that he wants to see a big catfish, and he did a little arm thing, but evidently he's looking forward to seeing a catfish. David: Mom, let's look at that catfish. Luke: A few years ago, during a trip to the zoo, they saw an enormous catfish that might have been a few feet long. He keeps asking about it, so we'll see what we find. Cathy: Okay. Now see what you see in here. Oh, there he is, laying down on the rock! David, right there! He's moving! Can you believe that you're seeing a real live lion? Boy, this is neat to see him moving. Look how big he is. So they call him the king of the cats, the king of the lions, king of the jungle. David: He has a den right there. Cathy: A den, right. That's the right word for it, a den. Oh, a female lion? Another lion. You see him, David? Luke: Hey, a lioness? Cathy: Now it's easy to keep track of the kids, because they're not little-bitty people where they wander off so much, and they kind of want to be near me, but when they're really little, I've always got the baby tied to my tummy, and the two youngest in strollers, and the other ones have to hold on to the stroller, 'cause if they'd let go, I mean, it'd be so easy to lose somebody. We could go about anyplace we wanted to, just by having them have to hold on to the stroller. If they let go, we stop, and we stop going forward; we hold still until everybody holds on. It worked. Rick: The conditions are just really nice for photos, and I thought this would make a good shot, everybody kind of looking into the lion cage. It kind of gives the viewer a feeling of looking into the lion cage, too. I have to put a little caption with it now. I guess "Looking at the lions." I think that'll be my caption for FamTeam Today. Cathy: Isn't that funny how his hair goes, even the detail around his ear, down the middle of his back? Isn't that interesting? That's a lot of detail, isn't it? You see the detail even on the mane, Luke? It's red and -- I mean, black and white, black and white, all the way up the hair. Luke: Yeah. Cathy: And then down the center. I mean, it's a very detailed animal. Well, you guys want to go up here and see Big Cat Country? Right here. Let's go up this way. Luke: We just saw some lions and some leopards, and I think we're very close to some tigers. This might even be them here. Yep. No, that's a cheetah. Or a jaguar, rather. Cathy: Is that a cheetah, or -- Luke: I think that's a jaguar. Cathy: A jaguar? Luke: Right down there, just suntanning. Cathy: You know, isn't it always like that -- your underbelly's whiter? Luke: Right. Cathy: Yeah. I guess he's trying to get that part tanned. I was hoping we'd see a Siberian tiger. Luke: There's a tiger -- a tiger over here. Cathy: Oh, good. That's the one I wanted to show him. Luke: Across the way. Cathy: Wow. They look strong, don't they? David: Mom, where is the catfish? Cathy: I don't know, honey. I'm thinking it has to be someplace where they've got water, an aquarium. Maybe by the penguins, if they still have it. I bet they still do. Tell you what. If we see a person who works here, why don't I ask him, okay? Yeah, the Siberian tigers are so impressive. And David was looking for it, and now -- he was pretty impressed, I think. Except he's got a catfish on his mind. I told him that the one time we were here, there was an enormous catfish, but I'm not sure where it is. It has to be some water area, some aquarium. I'm not sure where. Maybe the penguin area. So if we find that, he'll be happy. Luke: It must be his obsession du jour. Cathy: Yeah, something. At least for now. Cathy: At this point, we're way over here on the right of this map, up in Big Cat Country, and then as we continue on, we'll go past the bears, and then we want to get to the penguins. That's the highlight. They're looking forward to it. And then, for me, the very end of it -- we'll be hitting the rhinoceros area, the hippopotamus, and I'm just real curious to see what they think of those, 'cause they're such a funny, funny creature. Now, how to fold a map. David, what do you see? An ostrich! He was wondering if we'd see an ostrich here. Rick: Oh, good! He gets to see one! Luke: Hey, Peter, look! Zebras! Luke: The last time we were here, Peter misidentified the giraffes, and said, "Hey, look! A zebra!" >> Are you sure those are zebras? Peter: Yeah. >> Are you sure those are zebras? Peter: Yeah. And there's an ostrich. Cathy: Now, do you want to tell him for sure which is which? Luke: Yeah. Let's review. The animal that is extremely tall and has horns -- what is that? Peter: Giraffe. Luke: Giraffe! Ding, ding, ding! And the animal that looks like a horse, but is striped -- Peter: A zebra. Luke: All right! Peter: [laughing] Cathy: Now tell him which of those two is a giraffe. Luke: Yes. Rick: It must really be tough when they get a sore throat. Luke: Yeah. Rick: Now, this is a nice angle. Look, guys. Luke: What do we have here? Antelope? It's kind of interesting how the giraffe is just watching the goings-on. "Howdy, neighbor! "How we doing?" Cathy: Look at that bird! Look at him! Look at how long his beak is! Isn't that neat? Rick: Yeah, that's really magnificent. I like the shade here, too. Cathy: Do you see how their knees bend backward, David? Luke: What is that? Rick: Some kind of pelican, I guess. Cathy: I bet that'd be impressive to see fly away, though. Luke: That's very bright, very pretty. Cathy: It is. It is. Rick: Okay, let's see. David: Over there! Cathy: He found the big bird cage, you guys. That's right. Remember? What did I tell you that's for? Luke: Evidently, this birdcage was created for the 1904 World's Fair here in St. Louis. So the birdcage is six years older than the zoo itself, which was opened in 1910. Rick: David in particular is so excited about going through, I think he's temporarily forgotten the catfish. Cathy: Tell me if you see any birds in here. Oh, here are some birds up here. Look. In this tree. Rick: It is kind of a neat atmosphere. Luke: Yeah. Cathy: There's a real crunchy-looking turtle here, guys. I mean, that looks like a roof, doesn't it? Luke: Yeah. Cathy: It looks those wooden shingles on a roof. Rick: How did the turtle get in here with the birds? Cathy: I've never seen a flying turtle before. Rick: He must be popular. Caleb: I don't think that's real. Luke: Wait. You think that's a fake turtle? Cathy: But it's talking about it right here. Luke: Nathan and Seth think that this is a fake turtle. Caleb: It is fake. Luke: But it -- the bubbles are very regular, so -- Cathy: Yeah, but you breathe regularly. Luke: Yeah. Jacob: There's a rabbit over there -- a fake rabbit over there, too. Seth: Let's go see that. Luke: Well, but why would they go to the trouble of making it breathe? Seth: Well, let's go see that. Nathan: So it'll look real. Jacob: I thought it was real at first, but then I saw the stone rabbit over there, and it kind of changed my mind. If there's a stone rabbit, I think there can be a stone turtle. Luke: Oh. Well, yeah, that's a fake rabbit, of course. Jacob: And it has a hand here and everything, just like the other sign. Luke: Well, that does look like a fake rabbit. It does make me question the authenticity of that turtle. But now I don't know what to believe. I saw a lot of turtles earlier. I assumed they were real. Cathy: This is a neat-looking bird, though. Rick: Hey, Caleb, do you know why they stand with one leg? Caleb: No. Rick: 'Cause if they lifted that up, they'd fall down. Cathy: If they lift up the other leg, they'd fall. Next time, we don't invite Daddy, guys, okay? [laughing] Cathy: Oh, there's some birds walking on the -- I guess they're just acting like they're just tourists here. Luke: They're trying to break out. "Just act cool." Cathy: Just acting casual. "Just waddle along." Luke: Walk out the door. Cathy: Okay, guys, if we want to get to the penguin house on time, and then to the hippos, we'd better get moving, okay? David: I hear the train. Cathy: Oh! That might -- oh, look! A train's coming! Okay, what color -- oh, a red one! David: It scared me. Cathy: Everybody wave! Rick: Should we try to go on this train? We could just go to the right; there's a train station. Cathy: If we can get there quick enough. Do you guys want to go on this train? Caleb: Sure! Cathy: Okay. Run up. Go run up with Daddy. Cathy: Caleb, go here. David and Peter, hop on. Conductor: Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome aboard the zoo line railroad. For your safety, please keep your arms, legs, and personal belongings inside the train, and please remain seated at all times. Caleb: See that waterfall? Rick: Well, we saw where the penguins and the puffins are. I'll remember it. It's right down the street from this building here. Cathy: Do you happen to know if you still have that giant catfish here? Okay. Let's go, guys. He didn't know anything about it. So we're real close to the penguins. So does that mean we go that way? Rick: Yeah. You can go left to the penguins. Cathy: Now that we're off the train, I think we're headed toward the Penguin House. The little guys are very excited about seeing them. Mary-Elizabeth, Caleb, Peter, David -- they've got all sorts of storylines going on in their heads about the penguins. And then I'm hoping we still hit the hippopotamus and rhinoceros area. So we'll see how far we get before everybody poops out. Oh, here, we found it, guys! Penguins! Penguins! Oh, no! Look at this, guys. Oh, now, they really don't look real. They're standing there like this. Don't they look fake? And then, all of a sudden, they move. [laughing] Cathy: Isn't that funny? Look, you guys! You can see it swimming! Look, it's swimming! Cathy: I mean, it doesn't look possible the way they jump out, isn't it? They just zoom out. Luke: They have so much speed. Rick: Yeah, it's really amazing. They're really beautiful animals and funny animals. Cathy: Look, this one's looking you right in the eye, David! Man, you're that close to a penguin. Isn't that weird? Rick: I guess feeding time is only a few minutes away. Cathy: Hey, guys? They feed the penguins right back out there where we were. Rick: They turned the waterfall off. That might be a good sign. Cathy: Uh-oh. The penguins look expectant. It's really something. You watch the penguins, and they're actually taking a fish in right after another, not chewing, just kind of -- it just kind of goes in like a chainsaw or something. I don't know what it looks like, but it's a funny sight. Now -- which way do we go now, guys? David: Where's the catfish? Cathy: Oh, there's a hippo. Luke: There's a hippo. David: Where's the catfish? Cathy: We still have not found a giant catfish that I know we've seen here before. I don't know where it is. But we're headed farther from the penguin area, now that the catfish wasn't here. It's got to be someplace with water, but we can't find it. Rick: We generally want to go that way. I guess try this way. Cathy: Okay. Follow Daddy, guys. He's good with directions. Luke: That way. We just entered the Children's Zoo. It's really pretty in here. The Children's Zoo is also, we're hoping, where the catfish display would be. We're kind of running out of places to look for the catfish, so we're hoping we stumble upon them here. Cathy: Hi. Do you happen to know -- do you have a giant catfish someplace in the zoo? >> He passed away. Cathy: Oh, he died? Aww, shoot. Cathy: We just found out that the catfish that we were looking for, Big Daddy, evidently died last year. David: Poor little guy. Cathy: Yeah. "Poor little guy." "Poor little guy"? He weighs more than you do. Jacob: I think they said it was 82 pounds. But we're too late. Cathy: They called him the Big Daddy of the catfish, but they said there's some more fish up here, too, so Luke's going to see if he can find -- David: Some more big ones? Cathy: I bet they're big. Why don't we go check? Uh-oh. I think I see someplace that fish go! Look! How would you like to catch a fish this big at home? Cathy: Oh, boy. Well, David, are these big enough for you? David: No. Cathy: Are these bigger than our fish at home? David: Yeah. Cathy: Hey, David? David: What? Cathy: Are you kind of sad we can't see that big catfish? David: Yeah. Cathy: Yeah. Do you kind of wish we could? David: Yeah. Cathy: But you know, this might leave enough time for us to see the hippopotamus. And then if they get another big fish here, would you want to come back and see it? David: Yeah. If we find out that there is one, we'll go here? Cathy: Then we should come back. Okay? He said sometime when we're not coming here and we find out there is one here, then we should come back here to see it. So he's happy now. I don't think that was meant for six people. [laughing] "Frog parking only. "All others will be toad." That sounds like something John would say. Luke: Or maybe a Philip-ism. Cathy: A Philip-ism? That sounds like a John-ism to me. Let's see -- yeah, let me know if you see a waterfall. That'll help. Oh, I hear a waterfall. That's a good sign. Cathy: Uh-oh. Here they come! Tell me what the biggest thing you see in here is. Cathy: Let's see. I see some big catfish. Is that the biggest thing you see in here? Cathy: Keep looking. Do you see anything big in here? Uh-oh. I see something big. David: Oh, there it is! Cathy: I think we see something. It seems a little bit bigger than a catfish to me. David, is that bigger than a catfish, you think? David: Yeah. Cathy: Yeah. Oh, look, he's going in the water, guys! Look! He's about to enter the water. See, you were thinking a catfish was big, David. Does this beat catfish? Caleb: Mom, there's one in there. Cathy: I know. Can you believe it? Look at him! Look at him! Ooh! Now that's bigger than any catfish I ever saw. Look at that! I would say that those giant hippo -- "hippopotamuses"? Seth: "Hippos." Cathy: Yeah, "hippos." Thank you. Whole lots of hippos made up for the lack of a catfish, so -- David? David: What? Cathy: Are you happy we got to see the hippos, at least? David: I'm not happy because of the catfish. Cathy: But are you happy because of the hippos? David: Yeah. Cathy: I thought -- to me, the hippos were a lot more fun than seeing a catfish. Luke: It was a great time. We saw so many different animals. I would think the highlight of the trip has got be seeing those penguins. The little guys loved the penguins, and it was just a really -- really interesting to see all of those big penguins dive into the water and swim around. Kind of heartbroken for David hearing that his catfish died last year -- so tragically hearing that from the zoo workers. But I think he'll be okay. I think he's starting to heal from that. All in all, it was a great trip, and I think the kids are going to remember it for a long time.