"Baby cuteness day"

"Baby cuteness day" is the term Jesse came up with for our trip to the zoo today. Yep, the last day of our week out of school, we went on a short trip to the zoo. It started with the baby black-footed cats. They are too adorable! We saw the momma cat pick up one of the little ones and head down to the hiding place the zookeepers have created, just as the zookeeper came into the habitat. The zookeeper was changing out the enrichments (toys, places to hide in, or crawl on-keeps their minds working). It was cool to watch! She removed a couple of the toys completely and put out new balls (made of a grapevine looking material). She moved one thing (like a bucket, but with a hole on the side) to a new place, moved a stick to create a ramp from a hole in a log, and a new basket of cardboard, cut into small squares. The girls and I spent a few minutes watching and discussing. The girls were fascinated!

Of course, we had to see the baby Galapagos tortoises! They have grown so much since they were put on display. We constantly discuss the fact those tiny creatures will get up to almost 900 pounds and will outlive all of us (200 years). Totally amazing!! But I have to say they are the most adorable creatures to sit and watch, just fascinating!

There is also a young flamingo. He has grown now to be a between two and three feet tall, but he is still a ball of grey down feathers! We were not close enough to see if he has started to turn pink yet or not. He will, but right now he is very easy to spot!

Then there is the baby baboon. He is not so much a baby anymore, but still likes to play and investigate. We watched as he got a lesson in fighting from the head baboon. It was quite the scene. Chloe, especially, adores the baboon. We all think he is fun to watch. You just never know what he'll do.

So there you are a "baby kind of day" for the Morgan girls. We had a lot fun, even though we didn't stay long. Jesse was upset the rock wall didn't open while we were there (10:20 and still nothing); Chloe was looking for the baby penguin, but I don't think he is on display just yet. Or he was hiding in the back so we couldn't see him.

Monday we'll start back to our studies. It was a good week, even though projects were left undone. Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses.