Monday, August 8, 2011

Wild Animals

 If you see the title to this post and think I'm talking about my children.....well, you are right. You are also correct if you are guessing that we went to the ZOO!!

The Brookfield Zoo holds such special memories for us. We had a pass for 2 years in a row but haven't been able to have one for awhile.

Anyways, we used to go to this zoo as a place to get out of the city together as a family. A place to breathe. A place of reprieve from the demands of school. A place of refreshment and a brief time to forget the outside world.

I can't tell you how many times we came from the hot busy summer days even through the cold, snowy empty days. It will always be a very special place for us!

We got a library pass and coupled that with free kid's day today. Free is good:)


All the boys wanted were their own maps! So they each got one and used them to help us find our way...

 We went to see the Wild African Dogs that looked like hyenas and then on to the new Great Bear Wilderness. They had an exhibit with Bald Eagles towards the front. I admit, it made both Ben and I sad to see such majestic birds that represent pride for our country, caged and clipped so they couldn't fly. The female is in the front and the male was behind a big branch. Why is the male bird always the most beautiful?!

Samuel showing us that his arms aren't quite as big as an Eagle's wing span:)
 Ben soaked up his Eliana time. He hates to miss time with her especially when he works long days and she's asleep when he leaves and asleep when he gets home. He was totally unapologetic for hogging her today:)
 This was one of my favorite animals today! This big lumbering bear was sunbathing:)
 Even tipping back his head to soak up the rays. What a life!
 The polar bear put on quite a show for everyone! He dove and splashed, swam back and forth and soaked up the admiration of his public.
 A big splash for his fans! This was Ben and the boys favorite thing we saw today:)
 Am I as tall as a bison yet??
 Almost 4 ft tall now!
 We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch that we brought.
 Eliana was much too busy looking at all the sights and eating Cheerios to bother giving me a moment for the camera...
 Z having a great time! I believe he was savoring his cookie as I took this picture...
 Samuel inhaled his lunch as a growing boy will do:)
 Nope, still too busy....
 The boys watching the giraffes, which are my favorite animal..
So beautiful and graceful!!

It was a really nice day! We came back and rested for a bit (well, Ben worked and we rested;) and then the boys decided to play "zoo." They brought down as many stuffed animals as they could: elephants, "Wild" dogs, a horse, an alligator, giraffes, etc.

Samuel was the visitor, map in hand, and Zakkai was the very knowledgeable zookeeper. I was listening as I worked in the kitchen as Samuel asked the zookeeper what each animal liked to eat.

According to Zakkai:

Monkeys eat Watermelon and Ice Cream.
Wild Dogs eat the same.
Alligators eat a few bites of Roast Beef. Followed by ice cream:)
Lions eat Corn and a Can of Soup.
Giraffes have Canteloupe.

And there you have it!
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And just in case you didn't get the email or see the FB link, please vote for Eliana in this week's parent magazine "Kid of the Year" contest!!
http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/1007687 
Just click on vote and type in the words you see. One vote per computer, per day through 8/14!! The winner receives $250, which would be very welcome right now. Plus it would be fun to see our little princess win a contest! Thanks!

2 comments:

Charity said...

I'm so glad that I got to visit you guys so long ago and did things like going to the zoo with you. Why you ask? Well, because it makes it so that I can picture you guys there. I'm glad you all had a fun time.

grandma said...

The pictures from the zoo are so specail to me. It brings back long ago memories. In growing up right near the zoo and going to high school next door to the zoo. Oh the memories. Thats were Grandpa and I met right in that high school. Oh dear I could go on and on.

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