Zoo Field Trip

After the morning run and breakfast, Michel took the boys on their first field trip of the school year!  They headed out to the zoo.  They original plan was to keep the boys busy while I went to the midwife, but Zaira still had her mysterious rash.  Since the boys worked so hard to finish two days of school on the very first day back, he decided to continue with the original plans.

Going to the zoo with Michael is always a thrill for the children.  We have a annual pass that we renew each year because they love it so much.  So it was no surprise that the boys were up and out the door quick today.  They headed to the zoo arriving when the gates were opening in hopes to see the new lion cub!  They began their trip around the zoo stopping at all of their favorite stops along the way.  Here is what Michael had to say:

It was good to go when the zoo first opens.  First of all, it is still fairly cool.  A definite plus during a month when a cool day is still 95+!  But the coolest thing, was that it was just after the morning feeding/cleaning time for many of the animals, so the ones that we usually do not see active (raccoon, porcupine. and rhinoceros) were actually up and moving about.

Of course we had to visit our usual friends, the monkeys, lemurs, Komodo Dragons and parrots.  One of the Blue and Yellow Macaws recognizes me now.  We often spend several minutes at his exhibit and he and I mimic each other's movements.  Of course, he has an unfair advantage:  he can hang from the roof of his cage with his beak!

Unfortunately, the new lion cub was not out, but will be making an appearance on Saturday from 11AM to noon.  Just another reason to make a trip back this weekend.  It is times like these that we are thankful for our family pass!

Our budding photographer, Henry, took over 150 pictures of many of the animals, as well as his brothers having fun.  Near the entrance to the African section, there is a statue of a charging rhino, and Henry had great fun posing all of us with it.  The alligator and lion statues made great props as well with the boys trying to wrestle the creatures to the ground.

Our local zoo might not be as grand as one in a larger city, but it is still one of the places that we love to visit time and again.  It is just the right size to enjoy in a couple of hours with a nice variety of animals.  Besides we have the most awesome zookeepers who know us personally.  The children have been to many a zoo camp over the years!

So, you can see it was a success!  I am so glad the boys had this time with their dad.  It makes for awesome memories that will not be soon forgotten.

The rest of the day was spent gathering supplies for our 4H projects.  Michael took on the role of substitute leader for my project and then went to his first project meeting.  To read about this adventure, you will need to head to my 4H blog.