Dickerson Park Zoo held their annual “Dreamnight at the Zoo” Friday night. “Dreamnight” is a night where the park opens after regular hours so children with terminal illnesses or special needs and their families can visit the zoo where any health issues can be specially accomodated by volunteers from Friends of the Zoo and local organizations.
The idea first started in Holland at the Rotterdam Zoo in 1996 for children with cancer and then spread around the world and was expanded to allow children with special needs of all kinds.
There were groups providing free popcorn, soda and ice pops for the families. There were free train rides, the chances to feed animals and a very entertaining show from Henry the Hippo. (Dale’s lesson of the night from viewing Henry: “I will never eat my food after I poop on it.”
Eli had a great time and it was wonderful to not have to stand there explaining to everyone around us why Eli was making noises or getting upset for seemingly no reason. When you have a group of parents around with special needs children of their own you only get that smile that says they’ve been there, done that.
Here’s Eli waiting to ride the train (which we could have done for the whole 2 1/2 hours and he would have been happy 
Here’s Eli pushing the stroller we had for him and Julie. As soon as Eli announced he wanted to push, Julie jumped out and Dale sat down. Dale obviously trusts Eli a little more than Julie does…and if you’ve ever had a little brother you know it takes great trust to let them just push you around at high speed!
I love Eli.
Thank you to Dickerson Park Zoo for the great time for my family.
Jason, for all the reasons you mentioned and more - This is exactly why we host Dreamnight. Thank you for supporting our event. We as zoo staff and volunteers receive so much in return from the families who attend. Our thanks to you and families like yours! Everyone was so wonderful Friday evening! Hope to see you here again next year - first Friday of June!