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A Day At The Zoo...

Today God gave me a wonderful gift! It's June in Washington -- and it was about 70 degrees out today! THAT is a HUGE gift! I took it and thanked God profusely! I was not about to spend THIS day indoors! So I grabbed my purse and my hot pink hat, and I headed for the zoo! Lots of other people had the same idea as me, but most of them didn't seem to have time to "wait around" and see what other gifts God had to offer! But I did. (if you want to see them bigger just click on each image)

First was a glimps at one of the Giant Pandas. This is the mama - Mei Xiang.

This wasn't a very good glimps... what with all that caging in the way! But I've been to the zoo MANY MANY times when I didn't get to see even THIS much of the Giant Pandas! So I took what I could get! But... God had so much more in mind today! Just look at these...



I ran around to the bottom of the exhibit... and darned if that little lady didn't follow! She let me get this great shot of her! BUT... that wasn't the best! I was really hoping to see the new BABY Panda that was born last July! And guess what? I found him!




UP A TREE!!!
Can you BELIEVE it? I couldn't!
(see? God had GREAT fun planned for me!)
So that's little Tai Shan ... who has apparently been climing trees for a few months now! Toooooo cute!

From the Pandas I moved on to the giraffes... they are right across the path, so it made sense... There was only ONE outside today, but he was a pretty one and if one was willing to wait long enough he was willing to accomodate us! When I first got to his area, he was back hidden behind some fencing having a little snack. But I waited, and eventually he did come out.

He says "Let me just strrrrreeeeeetch and show you how tall I CAN be!" Isn't he pretty?

And right around the corner from there I found this little fella! This is the baby elephant. I don't know where mom and pops were today - but they sure weren't out minding the little guy! Just moments after I snapped this he turned hiney end toward the crowd and showed how elephants poop! I was giggling over some of the little kids reactions to that! It was funny!

I didn't want to go inside any of the buildings today ... but NONE of the monkeys were outside. So I went in the ape house, only to be very disappointed. There are about 12 enclosures for monkeys in there -- and I HATE seeing animals kept in those enclosures anyway... I really HATE it -- but I found that only 2 of them DID have animals in them. Now if none were outside, and only two were inside... then where the heck are all the monkeys? And of course, since there were only two the crowds around them were CRAZY - and pushy! I wasn't being bothered with this on my BEAUTIFUL day! So... sorry... no monkeys! ( I know... I was disappointed too ... so I know just how you feel! )

But look here! I found a tiger out in his play yard. He wasn't terribly playful... just kinda lounging around, Lording over his domain... typical cat!

I'll tell ya though ... a lot of people would be so sad if they new that just MOMENTS after they all took off, the caretaker called him inside. And while HE was inside, SHE came out and hid a lamb shank in his yard! Then she let him back out. Boy was I glad I had just hung out there with that ol' tiger!
Here, he smelled the food, but he hadn't found it yet. He was "hunting"!


And of course, he DID find it, and was greatly enjoying it!


But I won't BORE you with all 47 pictures I took of him! We'll stop at 4! You can thank me later!


This little (ha!) lady is the tiger's next door neighbor. When I was done with him I went to check on her. The nice lady who had just given HIM his lamb shank, had given HER a burlap bag filled with straw! (is this fair?) Well, apparently this is the lion's version of catnip! She LIKED this bag of straw! When she first got it she grabbed it and ran back behind some bushes and hid. I tried nicely to explain to her that it was no fun for US if she stayed in the bushes. She was amazing level headed about this and brought her little sack back out to show us! I took about a million (maybe less) pictures of her too -- but for some reason they are ALL blurry! Must have something to do with a Lioness on Catnip! This one was the best of the bunch! It will have to do!

That was all of the big major animals I saw today. But I also saw a few little critters that I wanted to share...


This is called a "Red Panda" ... but really, I think it looks more like a little foxxy furball! He too had just recently been left with these little slices of apple and he seemed pretty happy about it!


And then there's these little beavers. They really weren't too "busy" today - I think they get Sundays off! They were just playing around in the pool mostly! But they were awfully cute, and I thought they deserved a few more leaves to nibble on seeing as how they kept me pretty well entertained for about half an hour!


And last... I took a self portrait -- cuz I knOw you wondering about my hot pink hat! I actually have one of these in just about every color and my kids tease me unmercifully about them! But I LIKE them... and I don't care if I AM a redhead ... I'll wear hot pink if I want to! I hope you enjoyed our trip to the zoo today! I know I did!

posted by Melli at 8:28 PM