Yesterday, our friend Alexis had her eighth birthday. Happy Birthday, Lexi! Her mom came over in the morning to pick up our old freezer than is now their new freezer (we got a new, larger model) and I mentioned I was thinking of taking the kids to the zoo that afternoon. We bought season passes, so we often will go just for a couple of hours. She thought that would be a great way to celebrate Lexi's birthday, so we agreed to meet after lunch. They also got season passes, so now we can go together all the time. Our kids get along great, so it will make the zoo that much more fun.
I told the kids in the car, that since it was Alexis' birthday, we would let her choose what she wanted to go see at the zoo. My kids agreed, since they are used to the birthday kid getting their way for the whole day in our house. She decided to see the petting zoo and Masoala Rainforest, so off we went. I have never seen so many baby animals there before. Darling baby guinea pigs, baby pigs, baby goats, baby chickens, and baby Alexandra!
The girls went into the goat pen to brush them, after giving them a snack from outside the fence. Apparently you don't get pushed over if you do it that way. (Nice tip from the lady in charge) The boys were content to just watch through the fence.
Another fun toy was the fish fountain near the pond. You stepped on the little platform, and water came shooting out of the fish's mouth. And not just a little water, oh no, this was a huge stream that shot straight into the air. It kept going for about 3 or 4 seconds, then stopped. You stepped off the platform, counted to ten, then stepped back on and it would go again. Our kids were counting out loud in ten together while they each took a turn, so the Swiss kids after us counted to ten in English as well. Too funny!
My absolute favorite of the day were the prairie dogs, I think. There were tons of them, and I seriously want one as a pet. Their little bottoms with the tiny tails sticking out are perfect for squishing. Yes, I have a problem with squishing cute bottoms, just ask my children. Fortunately, I refrain from doing it to strangers children as that would probably get me arrested. The only other animal bottom that inspired me to squish it before this was the cute little wombat in Rescuer's Down Under. Don't know if they are as cute in real life, though.
We got lucky in the Masoala Rainforest, we saw two different chameleons. One was easy to spot, he was hanging out on the rope next to the trail, but one we only saw because he was moving. When he stopped, the other kids had trouble spotting him. Nick kept wondering why we were pointing to the pile of leaves all excitedly.
A bat, Nick's favorite, climbed a tree right in front of us. We aren't sure why it was climbing, rather than just flying. It flew to a branch in the tree, so we know it could. It rested on a branch upside for a bit, then just started climbing the tree. Pretty cool to watch, though. This was a much larger bat than we saw at Ballenberg, but still cute and furry. The kids and I decided we would like to have a bat colony in the craft room upstairs. They could fly out the window at night to hunt, and in the day they could sleep up in the rafters. The only problem would be how to keep them from pooping on my scrapbook paper, but really, most of it is stored in a big file drawer anyway. Oh yeah, and the landlord probably wouldn't be too keen on it. 🙁
It was a perfect afternoon. Perfect weather, perfectly behaved children (except for the incident in the gift shop right at the end), and perfect friends.