zoo critters, part 2

Hannah loves to take pictures and a lot of these are her shots.

 

 We got a chuckle out of the way this guy was resting.  His siblings were resting the normal way, but he was basking all sprawled out.

Claire claimed this was Elsa's castle

Time for a break -

Hannah and Sophia were counting how many seconds the hippos were staying under water before taking a breath.  "89......108......128"  

                                                  Claire had to count too.  " Eleventeen!"

There were these cute children from a day care.  

I thought the use of bandanas was pretty smart to keep track of the kiddos!

 Claire didn't get to see a kitty at the zoo like she wanted, but she did see a
                           meer kat!
Is it a kitty? she asked.

 What a hoot!!  He seemed relaxed for awhile.
               But planes weren't the only thing flying overhead.

All of a sudden the meerkats became all alert, looking in the sky and making a chirping sound.

 They didn't settle down until after the hawk had flown off.

A BIG cat!

That evening, when Claire got home, she told her Daddy

 "The giraffe was taller than you!"

The next day, the girls came to my house while Jill and Adam went on a date.  The girls set up the basement like the Sedgwick County Zoo.  First the flamingos, the barn to the right, the chimps on the left....

I've collected lots of stuffed animals over the years to use with teaching children stories of creation or Noah's ark at church.  The girls had to add an oceanic section with seals, whales...   Hannah even took time to write to the zoo officials to make a suggestion to add such a section!

Zoo critters, part 1

It has been raining a lot lately.  But yesterday, the weather cooperated for the girls' first day of summer break.  A beautiful sunny, although a little chilly, day! Kansas is actually having a long spring this year!   Infact, today is another rainy day and I put on the heater!

We decided a trip to the zoo would be a good way to celebrate the start of summer vacation!  We drove to the Big City (as my farm friend calls it).  We forgot that Claire has not been there for probably a year (they live pretty far away) and she was fascinated with the overpasses!

I asked Claire what animal she would like to see at the zoo.  

A Kitty!!

They should have kitties at the American barn, don't you think? 

Al remembers squirting the milk into their kitties' mouths when he was growing up.

The first thing to see at the zoo are the fish.  We aren't able to feed them anymore because of the bird flu going around.  The food draws in too many fowl and they want to keep them away.

 Picking his nose with his tongue.  Yech.

Claire looked at her back and said "I don't have a bump on my back!"

 "Hello Baaa!"

She was singing "Baa baa black sheep"

 Even Claire tried it, but I didn't get a picture.

And of course we washed, washed, washed our hands!!  That E-coli scare is no laughing matter!

 "Painting" the barn - such a cute idea!

 Sophia was a little skittish of the dark bamboo forrest.

 

Hannah took some great pictures of the chimps.! 

 What fun to discover a baby orangatang!  Claire thought it was funny that he was doing the splits.

I do splits too!