Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Boo at the Zoo

Finally, I'm getting these photos posted! The weekend prior to Halloween Scott and I took the kids to Boo at the Zoo, in the Quad-Cities.

The Kids dressed up in their costumes as Indiana Jones. Or as we liked to call them Illinois Jones and Iowa Jones. They let me get a few shots off before we headed to the zoo....

Ian makes sure his whip skills are tip top..
While our intrepid adventurer Jamie is a less sure of the whole affair.....
Until he remembers the candy involved in.
Indiana Ian really gets into the act.
And Indiana Jamie gives his whip skills a work out.
At the zoo, Scott's true nature is revealed....
...and it's obvious the nut doesn't fall far from the tree...
After a brief stint as monkeys, we moved on the see the elephants. The star shaped brand on one of the elephants signals that she was born in a logging camp.


I don't think they feed that animal enough... he looks too thin...
The kids enjoyed feeding the fish and the waterfowl. I don't think there are enough quarters in the world, they could have spent $100 feeding the critters.
There's another one of those skinny animals...
Nessie even hangs out in the pond, she never once begged for food, though.
The mallard ducks were sort of aloof, too.
But not the white duck, she was happy to beg at the side of the deck, and she was willing to fight for every bit of food she got!
A face only a mother could love.
Our fearless adventurer wrangled the pig outside the petting zoo and tamed him well.
Inside the petting zoo the goat whisperer found a girlfriend. This nanny loved Scott.
The llama on the other hand just looked at us with disdain... at least he did not spit at my camera.
A pygmy goat enjoying a crunchy leaf that he got from...
... Jamie. Who found a cheaper way to feed the critters.
In the Australian Walkabout, we saw an Emu and a wallaby...

And an Emu set its sights on Jamie's candy bag
The Jones boys took a break from animal watching to have a more modern adventure...

Before we visited Africa, where we saw macaws in the aviary.
And zebras outside.

And A few more birds on our way to visit the ....
... giraffes. The Four giraffes where confined to a small area, because their pen was really muddy. I felt bad for them, but it certainly made them easier to photograph.


The lions don't look stressed out do they?
I wish I slept so soundly.
The puma was having a nap.
Every time the train passed us Ian wanted to go straight to it to be sure he got to ride.
We took our time and visited all the big cats, only the Tiger was awake.

In the bobcat enclosure one of the occupants demonstrated that a cat is a cat no matter the size.

This wolf was watching over the others in the enclosure.

We compared our wingspans to other birds of prey..
... both the boys are peregrine falcons.
Too small to be bald eagles. Too much hair too. We visited the bald eagles. While he looks angry and impressive in this picture, he was only one of those things. Impressive , yes. Angry, no. He was yawning.

We moved on to see the black bear having a snack, he made short work of that pile of apples.
The mountain goats were all hanging out on their mountain.

As we headed for the train our smallest adventurer ran out of steam, and had to hop a ride on a daddy.
The clown loads the train with passengers and then acts as engineer.

Refreshed from the ride Indiana Jamie shows off his skills as an adventurer.
But the locals are not impressed...


A short jaunt up the hill to watch the train go past was the last crusade at the zoo.
We left and went to dinner at Outback, and then ice cream at Whitey's.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hehehehe they are adorable :)

Jill Marie Paulson said...

These photos are all amazing! We went to the zoo for the first time with our daughter last September and it was a great time!