The Averary

First of all, Tracy Aviary is expensive.  I forgot how expensive it was.  In talking to my sister last night, she reminded me that last year we went only because she had a coupon.  Duh!  I should have taken that into consideration.

Admission was $17 for the three of us.  The itty bitty plush owls I got suckered into buying (named Snowy and Frosting) cost me $14. Thirty-one dollars is a lot of money for the hour of entertainment we got.  But, we did have fun and we did get to meet our dad for lunch (another $17) on the way home so that made the whole morning excursion worth it.

We just probably won't be going back....without a coupon.

It's not like we really like birds, anyway.

But, my boys do enjoy excursions that involve maps and navigation.  It's fun to let them be in charge and figure out where we are at and what we are looking at.  It is also fun to see them get nervous (along with their mom) in a space with free flying birds and get excited to see raptors and birds of prey.  Condors are cool, but red-tail hawks are awesome.  And we saw pelicans being fed big fish and we saw flamingos doing this weird dance where they would wave their heads in unison, squish together in a group and then peck the crap out of each other.  Pretty fascinating actually.

And, for whatever reason, I still remember this crazy story my old fart English teacher in 9th grade made us read, "The Scarlet Ibis".  It was a super cool story and ever since, I've been a bit obsessed with the beauty of that particular bird.  Good thing there was a whole herd at the Aviary....

Which of course, Wyatt cannot pronounce.  "Averary", "Aveararrry", and "Avvvvrary" were his best three attempts during the day.