Zoo Fun

We went to the zoo yesterday and met my sister and nephews for a fun day of school.  We saw so many animals and we had a great time.

We love days when we homeschool at the zoo.  It's such a fun, laid- back way to cover most of our lessons!

Alec read through all the signs everywhere we went, often offering to read to his younger cousin.

 Evan surprised me by reading many portions of the signs as well as announcing what continents the animals were found on.  He's reading so much everywhere we go.  It's wonderful to watch him blossoming.

Some of our favorite memories of the day include the tree kangaroos, seeing the wallaby buddies (what Alec dubbed two of the wallabies that were playing together), the red panda, the binturong, and the monkey that threw the strawberry at us.  My nephew actually had some red marks from the strawberry down the side of his hoodie!

Though a bit sad I'll always remember that Evan cried when he discovered that the river otters were not in their exhibit and we could not see them today.  He really does love watching the animals and river otters are so playful and funny that they are favorites of his.

We also saw a large snapping turtle, some baby geese, and got to see (and hear!) a lot of peacocks.  It was a great day and we ended with a stop at the playground.

Evan wanted to write himself a reminder that his stuffed
bear's birthday was today and with the help of Alec and the
calendar he got it all down 

reading about the wildebeests 

The African crowned crane walked right up to the
glass and started dancing for the boys 

The giraffes were out running and even whacking each other
with their large heads! 

The harbor seals came right up to the glass 

Wallaby 

A sign we stopped to read; learning about Australia
and throwing some math into the mix 

The male peacock with his feathers spread out 

The tree kangaroos 

Learning about the birth of the newest tree kangaroo
(There was another exhibit with one male tree kangaroo &
all the boys wondered why the dad wasn't with the others so
later in the day Alec found a zoo worker and asked; come
to find out the male was not the father.  The boys were relieved
after that)

The moon bear was relaxing in the sun 

Alec & Evan's favorite-- the red panda.  They are so adorable 

Reading about beetles 

The snapping turtle 

The swan 

The geese and their babies 

A hawk we kept seeing flying overhead

 We drove to a playground (that I never even knew was there!) and got to see the carousel as well.   The boys had fun just playing together.

Alec used one of the signs on the play equipment to try and teach himself some sign language.

 Evan challenge himself to climb higher, faster, and further than he usually would.

Alec hung all over lung a monkey, using his hands and arms to move himself from one side of the bars to the other.

They played on the swings too.

We managed to listen to two more Cd's in our book series and we're about half- way through the book.  We also read a chapter in Harry Potter while the boys ate dinner.  Then to end the night I read one more chapter in the Gameknight book to Alec and Evan before bed.

Looking back we covered a whole lot of reading, physical education, some math, some geography, sigh language, and lots of science.  

It was a great day at the zoo and park.