Nature Walk

This week's nature walk was a trip to a nearby zoo sanctuary with Ian's preschool class. I love this little zoo because it is a great size for young children to explore in an hour or so. I am not very happy with the pictures that I took, now that I look at them. I'll admit that I was preoccupied with other things that day and was glad that my kids were getting a learning experience without much mental exertion on my part.

This zoo has tigers, which is our favorite exhibit, but also goats, grazing deer, fox, a bobcat, monkeys, and roosters, hens, and peacocks who wander around like they own the place. This one was screeching at us through most of our visit. The picture doesn't do it justice, but I had to get a shot of that brilliant sapphire head and neck.
One of my favorite exhibits is the bears. They have five or six of them and most of the time a couple of them are rough-housing like brothers, which is always entertaining (unless the brothers happen to be your kids). When we first got to the bear exhibit, none of them were down close to us, but after a few minutes one came down closer and another stood up on his hind legs and scratched his back on a post. Then the brothers at play kicked in. I was too busy watching to grab my camera. We'll just have to go back again when I'm not so distracted.
We finished up the morning with a ride on the train, which runs outside of the zoo. The kids clambered into the cattle car--the hands down favorite. It was hilarious watching child after child shove in; it reminded me of the public transportation in Russia--there's always room for one more.