First Day of School

Yesterday was "officially" the first day of school in our home.  Of course, the best way to celebrate that was to take a family outing to the Toledo Zoo.  Esther has been waiting ever so patiently for the baby giraffe to be out on display, and Isaac has been patiently waiting to ride the train again once the baby giraffe was ready to see. 

Meet Tulie. The beautiful 6 week old Masai giraffe at the Toledo Zoo!

 Well, word got out that it was out in the Africa! exhibit, and off we went!  The baby is about 6 weeks old, over 7ft tall and weighs a couple of hundred pounds.  We talked about how it fit in its mommy's belly and how each giraffe has a distinct pattern of spots.  

This is "Esther's Giraffe". She knows him on sight and he always puts on a show for her!

 The zebras were not out on exhibit for some reason, but the tour guide on the train told us something we'd never heard before. Did you know that when a zebra is born, as soon as it stands up, the mother dances in front of him?  She does this so that the baby can memorize her stripes, because like giraffes, zebras each have a unique pattern to their stripes!

The brawling male wildebeests thought it great fun to chase sweet Tulie.

 We also go to observe the polar bear eating fish and chomping his way through a HUGE block of ice to get to the fish that were frozen inside it!  Apparently all that work made him tired, because later we caught him napping...

Watching the polar bear nap...

We also got to watch the African Painted Dogs run and play when they were first let out into their enclosure. The wolves were ready for a hunt when we first found them, and sleeping when we came back by on our way out.