Penguin Plunge

The penguins are HERE!

After watching site construction since, well,... we moved here, we finally were able to see the new Penguin Plunge at the Zoo.

We may, or may not have, picked the busiest day to greet Calgary's newest residents : 

Opening Weekend + Family Day

What does that equal?

A 2 hour wait time.

Worth it?

Yup.

Marion and I held the family's place in line while Grandma A. and  Tyson took the kiddies around the rest of the zoo (except for Lily who stayed with me in the wrap).

It was fun hanging out the Marion and without any kids (again, except for Lily).

(Tanner and Grandpa A.arrived later after Tanner took his Dad to his office downtown)

At the 45 min mark, you had to have your entire group together in the line.

This was when all the snacks came out - 45 minutes in a line is tough for a toddler!

The gang waiting "patiently"

My FAVORITE picture of the day was this one of Gwen and her cousin Jasper. They had been waiting in line for 45 minutes and still had smiles on their faces. 

Maybe because Grandma (pictured in reflection) and Grandpa were there?

Most likely.

I can totally understand why Penguin Plunge had a firm schedule of 60 people every 15 minutes. The penguins are SO DARN CUTE, it would be easy to spend an hour watching them swim and play! They needed to be strict so as to get the flow going and to prevent overcrowding the penguins. To explain the exhibit, or at least the indoor portion, I'll begin with stating that it's cold and fishy. Fair enough - these ARE arctic birds that eat fish. The room itself is built like you're in a dome, where the walls/ceiling are colored to look like a clear arctic sky. There are three different species of penguin. My favorite were the megallanic peguins. They were little and the most playful. You could see right into their swim tank and watch them fly through the water. Those little guys are fast! They are also very curious and would come right up close to check us humans out.

I only got two pictures inside the exhibit and only one of the penguins.

There was just too much excitement to take more.

I am definitely excited to make use of our passes to go again and again.

We probably wouldn't have to wait in line to see them these days and I think Gwen would love to have more time to check out the penguins. And so would I!

One of our passes is a FLEX PASS

which means it's transferable

which means I can take a guest for free

which means if you want to take "The Plunge", too,

all you need to do is let me know!

P.S. Yes, my hair IS that long! I haven't had it cut AT ALL in 11 months. No, my hair DOESN'T have red sections in it, like it looks in the photo. I'm making an appointment for the first week in April to get my hair cut AND colored. It's been a while - and well needed!