Zoo Day

Wow! What a crazy week it has been! It was topped off with being a chaperone to the zoo field trip with my 6 year old. She of course loved it! For me, it was mixed! I love all the animals, I am sad to see them so confined! I love that the parents get to go, I was sad that out of the class of 19, 4 had parents who couldn't take the time to come with their children. I was honored that the teacher selected my daughter and I do take charge of one of those little ones and make her zoo experience the best we could!


We of course saw the "normal" animals. The kids couldn't decide if they should see the lions or the giraffe first. Thankfully they are in the same part of the zoo so that took care of that! Both in just a few minutes!



As we continued through the zoo I was struck by the creativity of God! I know I could never imagine all the types of animals out there and some I have to wonder what was He thinking! Because of the really hot day, we got through the zoo and decided to spend our "extra" time until the bus left in the rainforest part looking at the dead bugs. Hmmm...that sounds kinda gross, but it was fun and the girls were fascinated by them! These were the two favorite drawers! I was surprised. I figured the girls would be drawn to all of the amazing butterflies in all sizes and shapes and colors but they were really drawn to the rainforest beetles and bugs! I look at them and think "I don't have a problem with bugs but those can stay in the rainforest!" Guess I am a bit more of a chicken than I thought, but I don't wanna see one of THOSE crawling on my wall any time soon!

Even though it got really hot during the day, in the morning many of the animals were more active than they were the last time Jessica was at the zoo so she was pretty excited to see some of the animals "closer up".  Usually the tigers are at the back of their enclosure, laying down and only visible through trees. This one was about 10 feet away through the glass!


As we finally left the rainforest we had to pass the orangutans who were also feeling playful! The male was swinging on the vines and the female was playing peekaboo with people! It was so cute! Once again I was struck with that happy/sad feeling! So glad they are at the zoo so I can look upon them in wonder and so sad that they are limited to such a small, man-made space instead of roaming free! Sad to see that people are so selfish that they are destroying habitats so that the only places some animals can survived is in captivity.

By this time I was thinking that the fun was over and it was time to head back toward the bus but the girls had one last idea. They wanted to stop by the petting zoo. I was confused because my daughter can see most of the common Indiana farm animals just about anytime she wants to! But we stopped, more because we had 20 minutes until we HAD to be back and the areas we were trying to "hide" in were getting busy! Turns out that I was selfishly thinking of MY daughter and forgot that we had a friend along! She was fascinated and ended up making friends with an amazingly friendly goat who sat and let the brushing happen for almost all of that 20 minutes! Regularly taking the time to "Thank" the little girl by bumping her forehead. It was SO adorable and the little girl just fell in love!

As I look back, the day was long and hot and I must say that I am not missing riding the school bus! But overall, it was an amazing day filled with opportunities to show my daughter more about this amazing world that God created and gave us the task of taking care of! Wish we were doing better at it!