Fairies, Pirates and Mermaids

We had many options to do today. I let Marina decide what we would do. She chose going to the zoo. Today they had fairy, pirate and mermaid meet and greets. It seemed to be an easy decision for her. More difficult was choosing what to wear. Ultimately, she decided to bring several outfits and change for each meet and greet. She started in her Silvermist costume.

I was concerned the zoo would be crowded for these special events, but it wasn’t bad at all. We found a parking space in the garage and headed inside. We started by finding out where the “pirate cove” and “fairy garden” were located. Since Marina was dressed as Silvermist, we headed toward the fairy garden first.

As we walked there, we passed the pirate cove. As we passed, we saw Rosetta and Zarina, the pirate fairy. So we quickly went in to see them. We took some pictures and chatted with them for a few minutes. We learned that Captain Jack Sparrow would be coming soon.

We found the fairy garden and saw Tinkerbell there. Marina talked with her for a while. Then we explored the garden. It was filled with butterflies and doors. Some doors were large and Marina walked through them. Others were tiny and “fairy sized.” At one point, Marina heard some kids on the other side of a large door. They said they were looking for fairies. So Marina hid behind the door and surprised them.

We took a ride on the carousel and then found a place for Marina to change. She put on her Elizabeth Swann costume and we met Captain Jack. At first her called her a princess, but caught himself and called her Elizabeth. When he posed for a picture with her, he said, “Say rum - cheese!”

Marina decided the Elizabeth Swann costume was too hot, so she switched back into her Silvermist dress. We spent some time looking at animals. We started with the big cats. Eventually we sat down for lunch. We found a table near the sea lions. We also could look over where the mermaid meet and greet was scheduled. So as we ate we saw the mermaids arrive. Marina took a few minutes to change into her Ariel costume.

After lunch we went to meet the mermaids. One of them remembered Marina from the Washed Ashore Beach Party a few weeks ago. Since there weren’t many people around, Marina spent a few minutes talking with them.

Once we had taken advantage of all the meet and greet opportunities, we went through the zoo. The sea lions were active, so we stayed at the underwater viewing area for a while. Marina wanted to be sure to see all the wild cats at the zoo, no matter where they were!

When Marina was convinced she had seen all the big cats, she was ready to leave.