May 26
Everyone,
Today we went to the Zoo! A list of things we did there:
- Saw the baby elephant Zuri. She is not yet a year old and very cute! Also, one of their elephants (not Zuri’s mother) is almost 50 years old making her the oldest elephant on the North American continent. Pretty neat.
- Saw the monkeys which Pirate loves.
- Was pouted at several times by Butterfly because she wanted to push the stroller and kept running it into people so I took it away in the monkey house.
- Had lunch right next to the penguins and enjoyed watching the kids watch them while we ate!
- Rode the carousel. Was pouted at by Butterfly because she couldn’t ride on a tiger and had to ride on a cheetah instead. The horror.
- Rode the train. I actually really liked this ride. I took a few great pictures of the animals on the train.
- Played at the park. Either we’re really smart or silly to put a park at the zoo. The kids LOVED it and cried when we left.
- Fed the ducks and the swans. This was the hit of the day!
- Spent 20 minutes in the diaper changing room (yes, they actually have a room for this! It was very nice.) changing diapers. Fun times.
- Went home very foot sore and tired!
It was a good day at the zoo here. We saw many animals and Butterfly did eventually perk back up after lunch. And my boys fought over Cappy’s single stroller while he happily rode in the boys’ double stroller. And Butterfly was missing her little place in Bob so she could sit down and ride too.
Just another fun day on vacation!
Safire
PS- I do have pictures on my computer but it is VERY late and I’m exhausted. Look for them soon though.
Safiretrips to Utah, Zoo trip, Utah
Apr 23
Everyone,
This week for our little home preschool was Z week. And what better way to celebrate Zs than to go to the Zoo! This is one of the places in DC that is a must see. And it’s FREE. How cool does that get?!
So Lolli and I, and the 4 kids, ride the train to the zoo (AJ kept saying, “Is this the Zoo Train?” and I kept thinking of the Disney Zoo Train Song.) and hike the half mile or so to the Zoo Entrance. Lolli and I had researched our trip a little today and printed off Zoo Bingo and an Animal Worksheet to help the kids keep on task. Really, didn’t need to but it was fun. They got stickers at the end from the Zoo’s information desk.
AJ really wanted to see the alligators so we went into the reptile house this time. We never go into the reptile house because there’s always a huge line. But this time we walked right in. Boy it was hot in there! The kids were enchanted with all the snakes and alligators and lizards. I caught this awesome shot for Juice. This is his favorite color, after all!
Butterfly wanted to see the spider monkeys. I knew the Monkeys were not in the Great Ape house so I thought we’d try the Small Mammal House. In there we saw a ton of animals. The kids were entranced by the Golden Tamarins, and I have to say they are some of my favorite animals. Too fast for my distracted picture taking though.
Once we got out of there, we figured it was time to leave. There was an altercation involving some cotton candy and popcorn, but it was resolved fairly quickly. (Butterfly didn’t want to share, I made her, the end.) The ride home on the Metro was quiet, due to the Zzzzs the kids were catching for their own use.
What a fun day!
Safire
Safiresights around DC, Zoo
Jan 30
Everyone,
Today it snowed. A lot. Well, for Maryland. 9 inches and counting. I think that God knew that I needed a pick me up. So we got some really pretty snow. All sparkly and soft and white. Sugar snow I like to call it.
And what goes better with snow?
Isn’t he adorable!? If you like something bigger, how about one of these?
Juice and I were talking about what to do today and he asked if there was something I wanted to do to help me feel better. I don’t know what came over me but all I wanted to do was go to Tai Shan’s farewell party at the Smithsonian Zoo. Tai Shan is the big guy you see above. Where is he going? He was born at our zoo the same year Butterfly was born. He’s been the crown prince of the area since then.
So where is he going then? Well, the king and queen are on loan to us from China. And the little prince’s (not so little at 170 lbs!) loan from China is up. Now that he’s 4, he’s ready to enter the dating scene. The dating scene is a little sparse here in the States so off to China he goes.
They had a big party with a bunch of experts out talking to people. We got to write a good bye card that will go on the plane with Tai Shan. We got a picture of him, some panda snacks (which we each had 3 of, they were good!) and we ALMOST got a free stuffed panda. They were giving out them to the first 50 kids and we were #58. Sad. Instead we bought plastic animals on sticks at the gift shop.
We got really lucky and were able to see Tai Shan out in the snow. Plus the red pandas (the above picture) were out and I’ve never seen them before! They were really cute!
By now, the kids were cold. They were crying. They were covered in snow. Butterfly didn’t want to wear her boots so her feet were wet. I honestly didn’t think this outing through enough. We spent some time in the panda house to warm up and decided to go see the monkeys. Pirate is big into monkeys lately and it’s one of 3 words he says regularly.
We had a great time sliding down the hill to the ape house. We saw a lot of the apes playing in their habitats. Pirate actually cried when we left and not because he was cold. That kid sure does love monkeys.
We then got word that the zoo was closing early because of the snow and we hiked it back to the metro station. (With some hot chocolate to warm us up!)
What a fun day! Just what I needed. Snow, one of the best stuff + animals, another favorite of mine = one awesome day. Thanks Juice for indulging me.
Safire
SafireDC outings, sights around DC, snow, Zoo
Jul 25
Everyone,
Guess where we were today? 
I will spare you the details of how HOT it was today…92 and no breeze. I will also spare you how footsore and tired we all are.
Safire
Safiresights around DC, Zoo
