Friday, August 21, 2015

Field trip


 Off to the animal park!  We went to visit Boulder Ridge animal preserve yesterday.  It's very near here and really interesting.  We can get very close to the animals and even feed them if you're so inclined to stick your hand in a giraffe's mouth.
 Again, if there is something to climb, Adelaide will find it.  They both took after this bear statue. Notice the notebook in Elizabeth's hand.  She was drawing pictures of each animal we saw. Bison, ostrich, emu, zebra, antelope, alligators, tortoise, porcupine, exotic birds, snakes, camels, giraffes, African cattle with lllloooonnnnngggg horns, pygmy goats, wildebeest, fenec fox, peacocks, and some I'm forgetting, I'm sure.  What's nice is most are close enough to touch and feed.
Except this guy.  The alligator looked to need dental care.   I commented he looked like he had been eating something very crunchy and maybe it was a child. (THAT got me a look from the woman standing next to me!)
We stood there discussing one of my favorite picture books.  If you have a fussy eater in your life, this is a good one.  The title always delivers!

 While Elizabeth drew
 Adelaide made friends with the iguana.  Notice the iguana's mouth.  He/she would put its paw up on the glass if Adelaide touched the glass.  She was mouthing a message to 'her' and the iguana responded with mouth movements.  This won Adelaide over completely.  "Grandma! I can talk iguana!"  and she named her Lana the Iguana and we had a hard time moving Adelaide on.  As we left she had to go one more time to say good-bye to Lana.
 The parakeets were wild birds.  I like birds but these were very aggressive and fought each other for the feed sticks, bit us and swarmed to the terror of the little kids who were inside.
 They were crazy aggressive.Here they were going after my shoes!
 One little boy was terrified and threw down his stick and this is the immediate result. Like I said, I like birds but these were quite scary.
 We could feed the animals.  And get this close to them. This guy liked his salad and Elizabeth wasn't afraid to feed it to him.
 If I was a little kid and had to pick a favorite animal I think after seeing these beauties so close I'd go with giraffe. What a feat in engineering this animal is!



3 comments:

  1. Oh Denice that made me laugh, getting a look like that!! That type of comment is exactly what my husband would say to small children, he really loves to tease, but he says it with a huge grin on his face so young children are never startled they know when they are being teased and often they love it! Well sorry I have t been in touch lately, a lot has been going on here, life is in a constant state of flux, as you know! Your grandchildren are delightful to get to know, the artistry is showing early in one, and adventurous tendencies in the other. Who takes after you? Those parrots are Australian native Budgerigars....they do roam in our deserts and uninhabited places. I had one as a pet and many people here breed and show them. You won't see them in suburbia except in cages. Children are often spooked by flapping things, my daughter hates moths. And didn't Alfred Hitchcock make a famous film? Hahahaha. We also have a type of swimwear that our current Prime Minister likes to wear, we refer to as budgie smugglers...I will leave you to work that one out, bit saucy! Great to catch up again.

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  2. looks like the girls had fun! budgies can be quite aggressive, we have 2 on our back verandah, one is able to be handled the other one bites, a lot! and hurts!

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