Feathered Friends Class at The Zoo

Our 2nd/final fall class at the zoo was yesterday morning. The theme was Feathered Friends, and they did a great job of talking about eggs, feathers, nests, colors, flight/wings, beaks, etc. Unfortunately, all Lewis was concerned with was riding the blue train! He was not interested in the class much at all--I was able to get him to sort of try some of the stations, but otherwise he was trying to make an exit from the building (which is always fun for Mama). :) They also had 3 or 4 birds for the kids to see, but Lewis wasn't swayed by them either. He had the train on the brain. :)

The first station he tried was making a bird's nest:

 Helping flatten the dough

 Adding strings and plant fibers to it

Next was an activity involving different beak sizes and shapes:

 He was supposed to try to pick up objects (bark, gummy worms, etc.) with different sizes and styles of tweezers to see how each worked.

Next, feather painting:

I thought he was going to give this one a go, but he quickly lost interest.

At the end of class we headed over to see some birds. Of course we ran across some other animals along the way:

 Checking out the armadillo :)

 The orangutan

I couldn't get a clear/non-reflective picture with or without the flash, so this was the best I got. He is just so cool.

 One of the birds we saw on our bird walk

As we finished the bird walk, a couple of zookeepers came by and told us they were getting ready to do a tiger training exercise nearby. Lewis and I headed on over to see it:

 Sit :)

 Stand? :)

 Good kitty cat :)

His name is Sparky and he weighs around 240 pounds. The treats they gave him for following the commands were fish and ground up (hamburger-like) horse meat. Yum! It was so, so neat to be that close to him!

Lewis, of course, didn't care to watch the cool tiger and just wanted to ride the train already. As is the case most every time we're there, it seems, the train had a delay. The girl said it wouldn't be running for an hour, so we headed to see some animals and play at the playground to fill some time. Along the way, we also decided to ride the carousel! I think Grandma Sharon and Uncle Scott took him once, but I'd never been on it.

Lew chose to ride a horse:

 I believe that is his thisissocool face. :)

 Trying to take a picture of us while going around in a circle and with Lewis going up/down on the horse was more challenging than I imagined. :) This was the best I could get.

 Petting a giraffe's hide

And cheesing it up with Elmo!

The whole zoo was decorated for the month-long Halloween party (which happens on weekend evenings). It was neat to get a view of what it's like without actually having to go and fight the crowds.

We finally made it to the playground and played for a little while until we heard the train's horn. We headed back to get our tickets and had a nice ride (though he didn't want to sit and wanted to lean his head out of the side). Still, he was happy so I was happy. Another (relatively) good zoo day.