~ zoo trip

On June 5th I helped tie-dye shirts in Kizi's classroom, in preparation for the 

annual first-grade zoo trip. 

We had the option of ordering and dyeing extra shirts for siblings and parents, so in addition to helping the kids in class make their shirts, I made shirts for all 5 of us. It was really fun and easy (thanks to Mrs. Olinger's excellent preparation and tutelage), and it made keeping track of the kids at the zoo a breeze. 

Kizi insisted on me including this photo of her on the bus, above. (They don't go to Dallas schools, but apparently that's the bus that was available that day.) The kids have to ride to the zoo on the bus, and then they can ride home with parents afterwards. Kizi was obviously very excited to see us stopped next to her at a traffic light!

My tie-dying expertise in all its brilliance! Jonathan loves his, because it looks like a 12-week fetus in the middle of his shirt, lol!

The Portland Zoo has a great Pacific Northwest exhibit. We loved the bobcat! He just looked like a cute, overgrown little house cat. Even cleaning his whiskers... awwww!

I did a double twist on Caleb's shirt that I wasn't sure would turn out okay, but I rather like it.

Kizi's hair was a little crazy that day. Alissa, don't freak out!

Yes, we have salmon at our zoo. What can I say, it's Oregon.

And this little guy is like an old friend to me. Apparently the official term is "rough skinned newt," but growing up we just called them salamanders. My neighbor friend Jacob (we were both "only" children and there weren't any other kids near us out in the country) and I would go down to his pond and one time we literally caught 100 of them before we turned them loose again. My mom would sometimes let me keep one in an aquarium with some rocks and water, but only for one night. In the morning I took 'em back to the creek. 

I felt sorry for these poor black bears. The whole time they just paced back and forth in front of this viewing area. I hope I never get this close to one in the wild, but they don't really freak me out or anything. 

What DOES freak me out? COUGARS. I have a very, very bad phobia about cougars. I've heard too many stories about these cats here in our neck of the woods. They outlawed hunting them with dogs (really the only way to track them) in 1993. I graduated from high school in 1992, and until that point I hiked the woods alone with just my dog with never a worry. But now they are overpopulated and have lost their fear of humans. I've talked to folks who have had them drinking out of their dog's water bowl in their yard at 6am, glaring at them while they're cutting hay in the field, lounging in front of their barn while the person is mowing grass, and chasing horses right through fences in the night. There have been published stories of them stalking humans here in broad daylight. One guy was going for a walk with his dog out in the woods, and it was a good thing he had a gun on him because the cougar decided to eat the dog for lunch. He shot the cat and saved the dog. In southern Oregon, some of the ignorant townspeople had a hissy fit when a police officer (or was it Fish & Wildife?) shot a cougar out of a tree in the middle of downtown. They found pet collars in the cougar's stomach. They have no idea how fortunate they were that it wasn't some little kid's tennis shoes. In Montana, my friend Kelly's brother had a neighbor call them, frantically telling them that there was a cougar in the neighborhood (in the middle of Helena) and to make sure their kids were inside. He walked out into the yard and there was a cougar crouched on a tree in their yard, right above his three small children. 

HEART ATTACK!!!!!!! 

I can't even imagine... so believe me when I say that I NEVER want to encounter a cougar in the wild. But I will say this. I look forward to the Resurrection when the lamb shall lie down with the lion. I do think cougars are beautiful animals and I look forward to the day when I no longer have to fear them. I just don't want to have one eat me or someone I love for lunch in the meantime!

I did feel sorry for him. He didn't look very happy. 

I always have guilt when I go to the zoo.

How many zoos have a farm in them? Our zoo does!

Yup, there were cows and goats and bunnies. 

We've somehow missed the Birds of Prey show before, and really enjoyed it this trip.

Red-Tailed Hawks are native to Oregon, although this one is from Arizona. Someone was hiking in the desert and found an egg. They brought it to school to show off, and the egg hatched! As birds do, the hawk chick imprinted on the first living creature it saw-- humans-- and as such, could never be released into the wild. She's so beautiful.

We loved seeing the baby elephant! So cute!

They have several of the birds of prey fly loose over the crowd during the presentation. 

This video shows just how close some of them got to the crowd!

Gotta love the giraffes! I won't even begin to include a fraction of the animals we saw because unless you live under a rock or boycott zoos, you've probably seen them yourself.

We do love the adorable Meercats, though!

This python skin made a pretty big impact on the kids. Bleah!

Kizi had studied bats as her animal project in class, so she was happy to see these guys. 

And of course, we love Lorikeet Landing. For only a $1, you can get a cup of juice to feed to the Lorikeets. 

Always fun!

This day ended up being a red-letter day for the kids... not only did we get to go to the zoo, we even went to the Washington Square mall! (I NEVER go to the mall, not to mention a huge one like this). Kizi finally got to use her Build-A-Bear gift certificate that she'd received for her birthday in February! While we were there we realized that there was a whole entire store that was just

LEGOS!!!

Yeah, that pretty much made the boys' day. We happened to go past a Stride-Rite store and stopped in and got them all new tennis shoes since Kizi's were literally in shreds and the boys were outgrowing theirs as well. And last but not least, I introduced them to the wonders of the Macaroni Grill!!

YUM.