A Day at the Zoo

Walking into "The Bayou" I was not sure where the alligator was at so I took pictures as I walked around the corners cautiously. (Michael took all of the pictures except these two and the one of Benjamin and Kenzie at the rotating world ball.)

This is an albino crocidile that actually has blues eyes and is called something other than albin0, though I can't remember the term at the moment.

The train ride took us through a mining town, by a wagon train, by the graveyard where heros/scoundrels of the west (Doc Holiday and Billy the Kid) were 'laid to rest,' through the buffalo cage (past the sign that read 'DANGER: Do Not Enter'), by the prarie dogs, and the playground.

Bekah loved riding the carousel so much that every time we passed it she would make a bee-line for the carousel and try to get in line. Benjamin had to ride the tiger one of all the animals available.

The Tree House Museum: Dinosaurs & Africa

The Tree House Museum: Benches

I have drawn the conclusion that I love benches. Whenever we go somewhere that has benches I find myself interested in them and taking pictures if I find the benches intriguing. Why? I do not know. I am still trying to find the answer to this subconscious fetish I have discovered.

Temple Square at 7 a.m.

On Monday, we dropped Dad off at the airport at 5:45 a.m. and then tried to find something to do until the zoo opened. Unfortunately there is not much to do at 6 a.m. in downtown Salt Lake besides drive around Temple Square and the Capitol building while waiting for the fast food places to open for breakfast. We also discovered that the McDonald's downtown has token operated bathrooms due to the high transit (homeless) population. Then, we determined that the gates at Temple Square open at 7 a.m., though the visitors' centers do not open until 9 a.m. So we went for a walk around temple square until the rain chased us back to our car and canceled our plans for the zoo.

The peaceful feeling on Temple Square was amazing even in the quiet hours of the morning. The children had fun looking at the temple, the fountains, the "blessing" statues, and the Christ statue. Benjamin asked to see the "blessing" statues specifically. It is amazing what children remember especially when the events happen so far apart because we haven't been to temple square since Christmas time.

We are grateful that Dad is home safe and sound.

The Tree House Museum: Games

The Tree House Museum: Medieval Castle

Benjamin gathered all of the knights' horses and lined them up for a head count.

He also explored the toy castle and captured the dragon so that it would not attack his line of horses. We spent the most time at this station, even more than the Africa station where Benjamin had fun pretending he was a tiger and playing with the toy animals. Not that I minded at all because I love the medieval time period, castles, stories set in that time period, and most everything else I can find.

This dress looked really pretty on Bekah when she was standing. But, because it was way too big, she was done standing by the time I took half a dozen steps to get the camera from where I left it. She is sitting next to the king's throne and in front of the dress up box. (Did I mention that several of the stations have dress up clothing so that the children can get into character?)

This is a painting of the Lady of Chalot (I forget who the artist is) that makes me smile when I think of Anne of Green Gables pretending to be the Lady of Chalot and almost sinking. I still need to go back and read the story of this painting.

The Tree House Museum: Bridges and Tunnels

Bekah making a bee-line for the tunnel she discovered. She is enjoying the independence that comes from walking and being able to effectively determine her own direction.

I'm not sure if this was suppose to be a specific bridge or just an exploration technique. The kids thought it was funny that a "stream" went under the bridge that you could walk on and not get wet.

This tunnel is in "Grandma's Cottage." Benjamin is dressed up like a mouse so that he can authenticly use the "mouse tunnel" to get in and out of the house.

The Tree House Museum: The Tree House

The Tree House Museum actually has a huge tree house in the center of the museum. The tree house is all manmade, but it has a staircase that climbs the inside of the tree, a slide, a play area at the bottom of the staircase, and an exploration area about halfway up the tree where the stair case moves from inside of the tree out to the "branches" that lead to the second floor of the musuem. I couldn't convince my children to spend much time in the tree house because they found so many things that intrigued them otherwise, but I was able to take a few interesting pictures of the branches that demonstrate the size of the "tree."

The Tree House Museum: Fire Engine

The Tree House Museum is a child's dream. In the museum, there are a variety of activity centers that are geared towards the imagination and exploration abilities of children. There is everything from fire trucks (above) to castles* (*to come) to fairy tales* to foreign countries* to historic places* or times* and much more. We had a lot of fun and Mom had a hard time keeping up with two children going in opposite directions to explore different things and all of the things to do and see. I was very grateful that we went with Victoria (my sister-in-law) and her two girls so that we had two sets of eyes to watch all of the children running from one thing to the next.

I had a hard time peeling Benjamin and Bekah away from the fire truck just past the entrance. They both wanted to drive, dress up like firemen, and climb off and on the truck over and over again. I took so many pictures that it will take me several posts to cover everything we did.