Zoo Day

Loran cashed in one of his highly stock-piled, rarely-used-until-the-end-of-the-year vacations days and took his ladies to the Minnesota Zoo – or “Big Zoo” as Ella calls it. It was a nice, hot, humid day to be surrounding yourselves with wildlife, but we welcomed the weather and the chance to be together mid-week. The animals were surprisingly active and very smart about staying cool. Most sought refuge in their ponds. We even ran into one of my BFFs there with her children and niece. We live about 60 miles from one another, so it was quite the coincidence. Loran just laughs because wherever we go as a family, I always run into somebody I know.

Anyway…back to the zoo. The girls were great, despite the heat and we managed to see every trail and animal the zoo had to offer. Ella’s favorites were the dolphins and the new penguin exhibit (thanks 3M!).

   

The cheetah was one of the first active animals to greet us, quite up close too. These little cat lovers were delighted!

Ella took her work tracking tigers very seriously, she was quite content to work on this “laptop” and take recordings from her shanty. Her imagination is just erupting now, it’s so fun to watch and partake.

We made the hot, sweaty trek by foot out to the farm, no tractor ride for us! Once arriving, we made a bee-line for the farmhouse where we had delicious sandwiches for lunch. Definitely better than corn dogs and popcorn back in the regular zoo. The girls were in love with the cows. I think the fact that one was named Lola was the clincher. We met them all in the barn and then watched them get herded up to go outside. Once outside, the girls met back up with them at the fence. We also learned by observation that when a cow urinates, it is more powerful than any garden hose around…while everyone else by the fence scattered during this time of observation due to it splattering, Ella saw this as an opportunity to really get in there and see how it works. She was astounded that even the cow peed. Ah, to be three again; where potty controls your actions, thoughts and humor. 

Lillian passed out somewhere along the Northern trail only to pop back up, quite refreshed in the Tropics, underwater nonetheless. I’m sure that was quite the shock, to fall asleep outside near some tigers and then to wake up in a coral reef. That’s the stuff of mobster nightmares.

 

Lillian attempts to gag herself upon realizing that we dressed them alike.

 

COPS, MN Zoo edition?? No…Daddy’s an eagle and Ella’s a falcon!

There were fun Seuss characters all over the zoo, this is the only one Ella cared to partake in.

We made it to the dolphin feeding/training show. For the last few years, there haven’t been dolphin shows due to the ragtag bunch of dolphins at the zoo. Semo, the oldest captive dolphin at 46 years doesn’t quite have the spunk he used to. Allie keeps having babies, which has slowed down her ability to show off. But finally, one of Allie’s babies has made it (there were some unfortunate losses in there) to a year old and is starting to learn a little. Ella was at first somewhat frightened by the dolphins but quickly loved it. It probably helped that her baby, Janis was with her – the first big trip Ella has insisted that Janis come along for. And, they played various songs for the dolphins to perform to, and one was the Toy Story theme song, so Ella immediately fell in love. If the dolphins like Toy Story, then by default, Ella loves the dolphins. It’s three year old logic.