The Zoo

For Hunter the long awaited trip to the zoo.  Finally the snow melted and it is warming up outside!   Adam had some time off this week and I knew if we had nice weather we were going to get a trip to the zoo in and we did!   It was in the low 60's but breezy and since the zoo is right by the lake the air coming off the still frozen lake was a tad chilly!   But the sun was shining and it felt good and was really nice... even though there was still a few piles of snow around the zoo. 
I thought maybe some of the animals would be off exhibit but most of the animals were out and pretty active.
Hunter loves seeing (all the animals) but the lions and tiger.  Aidan calls them "roarrrrrs."

The orangutan put on a good show, he was inside and those pics didn't turn out, but it was cute.

Two giraffes were outside and a baby was inside.

The tiger was very active and we got to watch him for awhile.    Hunter has no fear of the big tiger walking right in front of him.   I like this pic because you can't really tell there is glass between them.

Now the tiger is going to get Aidan & Adam.... run!

Always a pic on the tortoise.

and the polar bear

Aidan enjoyed seeing and pointing at the animals.  He's leaning most of the animals by the noises they make.  Right now lots of animals are "ba-ba's."

Hunter really wanted to see and feed the ducks.  There were a few on the frozen lake.

Beautiful day, feels so good to be able to be outside, enjoy the sunshine and fresh air after a long winter!

Finally

Finally!!  Some warmer weather to enjoy!!   Hunter insisted he needed his glasses to be outside.   The sun does seem bright when you haven't seen it all winter.    He loves this bike, he calls it his motorcycle.   I let him go outside and when I came out he went zipping down the hill on his 'motorcycle.'   

Too funny... he gets up some momentum and lifts his legs up in the air and zips down the hill.

Going, going, gone!  We have a pretty decent size hill for him to go down.

He did have an incident with a tree but was ok.   So nice to finally be able to enjoy playing outside again!

Swimming Time

Hunter started swimming lessons this week.  I decided we'd do swimming lessons instead of tumbling and  tramp since he's been taking those since last summer.   He hadn't been in a pool since last summer and has never really loved to swim or get his face too wet.  I was a little nervous how he would do but he was really excited.  He kept saying, "I like this place" before we started.

Posing with his goggles

He just loved the class and did so good.   Jumped in the water, did back floats, got his face wet and even went down the slide.   There was a bin of toys they got to throw in the water and swim around with and he was totally preoccupied with those!

After the class he kept telling me how much he liked the class and how much fun it was.   So glad he is going to enjoy this!

Wild Animal Series - Part 2

We have a local peacock.   Last week coming home he was out when we were driving by and I had the camera so we got two quick and not very good pictures of it.   I haven't taken any pictures of him in awhile.


So that bring me to the story of the peacock.... he appeared 5 (? I think) years ago and has just adopted our neighbors barn and my Grandpa's bird feeder as his home.    My Grandpa puts some bird seed and corn out for him every night and every night right before sunset he comes over to eat.    He loses all of his tail feathers in the fall and then they all come back about this time of year.  You can see how long his tail is in this picture.
My Mom called us when he first appeared and was perched in a tree by the creek.   She called and said she thought there was a peacock in a tree and my husband snickered and didn't believe her... or thought she must be seeing some other bird.   Nope... it was a peacock!!   I don't know where he came from but he's decided that this is where he's staying!

It's a little amazing to me that he has survived this long pretty much on his own.   Besides the bird seed my Grandpa feeds him he's sort of on his own.   He gets noisy in the summer months and will call, to no avail, and it is the most exotic sounding noise.
Adam took this picture and then he just took off flying which was funny to see.   You'd be surprised how fast and quick he flew off!

See the blur... that's him taking off back to his barn.   
He's a bit of novelty and always fun to see.  I always kind of wonder how long he'll hang around.    Hunter gets a kick out of seeing him too so for now we'll enjoy our peacock.

Pet or Pest?

Ughhh.... definitely a pest!  Look at that face.   He's saying thanks for the birdseed!   What a pest.  He's decided that our porch is his new home and our bird feeder his buffet.

He spends hours eating birdseed.    The big rat.

Then he walks our railing and cleans himself by my kitchen window.   Then he takes a nap in our wood box and then goes back for another meal.

 It keeps Aidan busy.   He loves possum watching.
 

He thinks he can reach all bird feeders but he can't.   A little something about possum's... they don't try very hard.   He gave up on this one pretty easily.   Decided it was too much work!
 

And he's not afraid to get up close.  Oh well... it keeps Aidan and Max busy.  

He will meet his demise soon... and by demise I mean trapped and re-released far from our house!  Now to find a trapper.