SA Zoo

 This week's adventure was  a trip to the Santa Ana Zoo. It's close. It's small and easy to cover in an hour or two AND it was FREE! I won 4 tickets to the zoo and had been saving them for summer.
The history of the zoo is kind of interesting to me. In 1949, J. E. Prentice donated 12 acres of his citrus ranch to Santa Ana for a park. With this donation, he stipulated that the city must keep at least 50 monkeys at all times. Prentice loved animals, and always had a fascination with monkeys. He kept several on his back porch at his first home, and he and his wife would feed them and enjoy their antics from their kitchen window.

 The kids read the sign to "swing like a monkey" and took it to heart, especially Abbey. Watching the antics of monkeys really is very entertaining. Mr. Prentice was right. They often behave like siblings, fighting, picking on each other, hitting and screeching.  We observed a variety of animals. We saw a camel (and it wasn't even Hump Day!). I have never seen an anteater up close. They are very odd looking creatures. The kids loved it.

They also have a cute merry-go-round and, at first, the trio decided they didn't want to ride it. Then, they saw the basket that they could spin, much like the Disneyland teacups. The thought of trying to make each other nauseous was too good to pass up! Ugh!
My monkeys enjoyed the other monkeys.
"Good adventure!", proclaimed Jack as we left. Music to my ears!!
Biggsuzi