homeofthebudds

Zoo days.

We met up with our friends the Smith's at the zoo today. It was freezing. And foggy. Just the way the mountain goats like it apparently. This was the first time I've seen them out. Ever.

The beauty of going to the zoo in the freezing winter is that no one else seems to be as crazy as you. There is almost no one there and tons of the animals are either wandering about their exhibits or else sleeping right next to the glass. Winter makes for some good animal viewing.

Brennan kissed some ducks,

Ellen and Isaiah rode the horses,

And the Smith boys drove the tractor.

(Sorry I know that edit is sorta out of place, but I liked it that way. So I left it. So there. :)

Dave and the kids found some drums to play,

(you get lots of these cause I love the bundled crazy freezing kids juxtaposed with the African drums)

<(Bleh. I was going to insert a video of the drumming fun here, but vimeo is being lame. When it's decided to cooperate with me I'll update the post. Until then imagine a running drumming circle.)

And we were thrilled when the indoors (heated!) Africa exhibit was open. I love how everything on Howie and Dave's faces are warm except their noses (and glasses).

Isaiah had a run in with the concrete steps. Later Brennan did too, but his battle wounds are on his forehead.

It was pretty super fun. Even if it was freezing.

in which we experience zoo lights for the first time ever

We went to Zoo Lights last night. We'd never been before so we weren't exactly sure what to expect.

(photo by Dave)

Basically, its the zoo decorated with tons and tons of lights. So many tons that you wonder about the electricity bill.

The lights are actually really cool - there's tons of light fences like this, but there are also dragons, monkeys, and birds hiding in the trees, there are fields of elephants and hippos and crocodiles hanging by the water, there's fish swimming in the sea...there are all kinds of super cool light scenes.

There's a lot to see.

And a lot to photograph. Assuming you can figure out how to press those tiny buttons with mittens on.

Dave had some fun playing with an extended shutter speed.

And after that good fun we were all pretty frozen and ready to head home. But since our zoo membership lets us in free, we're totally planning to go back again.

zoo trip

Yesterday Lynette came over and we went to the zoo for a little adventure. We were excited to see this river otter, which was recently rescued and is only six months old. She looked full grown to us (although admittedly we don't know much about river otter size) but boy did she have the energy of a kiddos. She never held still. Ever.

Brennan thought this constant movement was hysterical.

We saw the bears. Brennan was very interested in how sleepy tired it was.

We screeched like the eagles.

We drove tractors.

We measured ourselves against the bears.

We visited the elephants at the same time the keepers did. I was pretty impressed Sam, the baby, was doing all the same behaviors the grown elephants were doing. Turns out this was new and the keeper was impressed as well.

Look, even Brennan was impressed.

I couldn't take it

Maybe I should just say expect a lot less pictures in the post? Here are three I liked from our zoo trip yesterday:

Our zoo has a new exhibit area featuring African predators. There are lions and spotted dogs and cheetahs and a few other things. I must say I was rather impressed with the way this area was put together. I'd still love for the animals to have more space - but the people side is pretty nice.

The cheetahs were fun as they kept walking around. Brennan and I were stationed at one of the glass lookouts (full sheet of glass the animals can walk right up to) and as this cheetah walked around the corner for the first time, Brennan got the quite the start. He backed way up and stood half behind me till he realized it was gonna turn and walk away again. After that he loved it.

This one's from the python exhibit in that same area - seeing through heat like snakes do. Can you tell that's Ellen holding up Brennan?

And finally, I'm not sure I was aware that giraffe's liked to cross their legs. Huh.

Out on the town (zoo)

This last week Ellen and I went to a concert at the zoo.

We had to get there rather early to get a spot, so we had plenty of time for things like a rare snow cone treat.

And for going to see the elephants and also discovering a tiny chipmunk,

And wondering if its possible to catch the tiny chipmunk

And writing stories (with illustrations) about all the interesting sights to take in while waiting.

And finally, the sun began to set and the music began,

And that snow cone sugar was converted into dancing energy.

It was a really good day for an outdoor field trip

Sometimes, Isaiah puts on his Oregon Zoo shirt and says "Lets go to the zoo."

And sometimes, if it's gonna be warmish out, I say "That sounds like a fabulous idea. Let's go."

We always start with the train.

We usually go see the elephants and penguins and things, but this time we waved hello to the ducks,

made animal tracks,

stared at the ducks some more,

and was stared at by the bald eagle (and people).

follow up zoo trip

Last week when we went to the zoo and we managed to miss the baby elephant and some of our other favorites I promised the kids we'd go back in a few days and see the other animals we wanted to see. So we went back to today.

And we did indeed manage to see the baby elephant,

And do some running

And Zebra watching

and more running.

Our friend Alyssa came along. She's never been to this Oregon zoo so it was fun to show her our favorite things there.

And it was only a little bit cold. :) Apparently, it was too cold for the animals, cause they were almost all sleeping. (I thought the animals were usually more active on these sorts of days??) Anyway. It was fun.

And now it's time to start thinking about Thanksgiving.

I am so not a crowds person

We went to the zoo today.

It was really really empty. We went places we don't always visit, and lingered at them instead of checking them off our 'must see list' like I'm prone to do when its crowded. We did all kinds of new things - like comparing wingspans.

And pretended to be eagle parents

And babies. At one point we were all in there making what we thought sounded like eagle sounds.

We drove tractors,

and rode ponies.

The kids discussed the finer points of making clothes from goat wool. ("See Isaiah, this part is really soft and you and you use it to make sweaters." "Yeah, but not the horns Ellen.")

They snuck up on a water geyser,

And ran shrieking when they saw the water pour in,

so they wouldn't get soaked.

They got up close with the polar bear,

And thought about why its called a "polar" bear.

It was a good day.

It must be time for bed cause I'm having a hard time making this interesting

We took a field trip to the zoo today. And we picked up our good friend Joey and took him along.

We were there at just the right time and saw the trainers feed the Sea Lions and the Otters. I had no idea how much these animals could do and understand. The trainers were talking to them conversationally and the animals were totally responding. The kids liked it for a couple minutes and then they started chasing each other in circles around the stroller.

I took the kids into the goat enclosure for the first time ever. Those are some seriously laid back goats.

I think this was their favorite thing.

And it was free! (unlike their other favorite the train)

I think Brennan was pretty tired cause he wasn't making his standard "I see animals" face.

kid-isms

dave came home early tonight, unexpectedly and up and took us all to dinner. quite the treat.

at the restaurant, after our tasty and delicious appetizers, ellen asked:

"So were those the advertisements?"

and when we were done we were talking to ellen about growing up and getting jobs and she said she'd have to see who she married and then decide if she was going to work or not. she told us she knew who she was going to date (turns out it was Isaiah) and then qualified...

"well i think that he'd be a good one. i got a lot of them all piled up."

i know isaiah said something downright funny too but I cannot for the life of me remember. next time buddy.

*updated: wait! Dave remembered one from Isaiah that made us laugh.

"I'm really really really really really really (laughing) really really really (smiling) really really, wait. sick."