Spring Break at the zoo

Kate was off for the week. (Doug was off the week before that, but since he gets home early, we still managed to get out a few times for some family fun.) We spent Wednesday afternoon at the zoo, along with crowds of other people out enjoying the sunshine.



The nice thing about having a zoo membership is that we don't have to worry about getting our money's worth every time we go, so if the kids want to spend most of the time on the playground that's just fine.






Everyone loves the otter slide!







These are so cool to watch.  They're like underwater venus flytraps.  (The sign said they were nudibranches, but it looks like that's not right.  Not sure what they are!)





We are happy to finally have some nice weather! Kate has been playing outside with the neighborhood kids a lot.  Andy isn't so much into hanging out near the house--he likes to take off around the bike path.  I get to follow him while he runs, and then try to steer him back toward home again.

Zoolights

We went to zoolights and took along Kate's friend Emma.  It was pretty cold so we were all bundled up. 



Catharine Tracy was working the front gate.




Kate and Emma examine a plastic iguana.



(And Pikachu.)





Doug got some video, too. (He added the music.)

Let's go to the zoo!

What to do on a sunny Saturday morning? The zoo! Apparently everyone else had the same idea, as the place was pretty crowded. We have a zoo membership but hadn't been there for quite a while.



Andy was fascinated by these big letters. He had to "read" all of them.



Going down the otter slide!




We were just in time to catch the shark feeding, which was very cool.





Kate and Dad at the touch tank.




Coloring with Andy.



Tiger cubs Bima and Mali (with mother Jaya).  They were born last May.




The kids got a ride on the carousel.  Doesn't Andy look excited?  He was much less excited once it started moving.



The best part about having a zoo membership is that you can just stay for a couple of hours without feeling like you have to get your money's worth out of a visit.  We got there at about 10:00, and when we got hungry we left to get some lunch.  Doug had I Love Bento's number on his cell phone, so we called them from the zoo parking lot and our food was ready when we got there.  Awesome!



I love the way Andy is holding his chopsticks in one hand and eating with the other. (This is tofu from the miso soup--a big hit with both kids. We always ask for a miso soup with extra tofu.)



What to do after the zoo and lunch? A nap! What a great day.

Northwest Trek

Isn't this pretty?  This is going to be one of those posts with way too many photos, so I wanted to start out with a nice one.  The sign said it was a red-flowering currant.

Last Thursday we went out to Northwest Trek. We'd been there once before, almost four years ago, when Kate was just a little older than Andy is now. (I never got around to blogging those photos.) It's a wildlife park with animals that are native to the area.



It was a cool, gray day, and had been raining off and on, but we decided to go anyway and didn't have any trouble. The lighting was nice for pictures, too!



Ready to go!



Kate films the golden eagle.



This bald eagle hopped right into the water to get a drink.




Spring growth!




Kate on the tram. It goes out through the free-ranging area, where you can see a lot of animals. (Mostly ungulates. In fact, aside from the trumpeter swans, and a mention of beavers, they were all ungulates.)



Moose! There are four moose in the park, and we got to see all of them. Apparently this is quite unusual.



Big bison bull right by the road.



Elk and bighorn sheep.



More bison. They were right in the road and had to be persuaded to move out of the way. (This is looking back, after we'd gone through.)



Andy says, "Whoa, lots of ungulates!"



Bachelor bighorns.



Elk growing new antlers.



When we took Kate at this age, she fell asleep on the tram too. Andy held out slightly longer and didn't conk out till the very end.

I realized I didn't post a picture of the mountain goats or blacktail deer. Also ungulates.



After the tram we moved Andy into the backback baby carrier so Kate could ride in the stroller.



Interesting view of an otter.



The cougar is not in the free-ranging area, for obvious reasons. It would eat the ungulates.



Neither is the grizzly.



"Are we having fun?"



"You bet!"



Snowy owl (blinding!)



And barn owls! Complete with fake barn. (The barn owl at the Point Defiance zoo has a fake barn, too. Must be a requirement or something.)



"I'm exploring!"



Everybody smile!



Both kids fell asleep on the way home. Big day!



A good time was had by all!