Tag: National Zoo

national zoo

October 3, 2010

see slideshow of the photos on flickr:
national zoo, washington, dc
proud papa

September 2, 2010

the lions at the zoo just had babies — four of them — and not knowing anything about animal husbandry, sparklet and i wandered up to the exhibit to see if they’d be out running around yet.

no babies, but dad was there.

which brings up a good point — if the lady sparkler ever comes home with four babies, i’m taking papa lion’s lead by running into the back yard, climbing on top of the highest point, and hoping for the chaos will subside without my active participation.
“let me in!”

August 26, 2010

things have fundamentally changed now that sparklet’s seen cows in the wild — being on the “wrong” side of the fence is simply no longer acceptable.
national zoo

August 8, 2010

you’d think with the number of times we’ve been to the petting zoo that sparklet would have actually pet something by now — but sadly it’s not the case.

most of the time it’s just me and the sparklet and there are just too many things to lose track of — hands on livestock, hands near eyes, hands in mouth mouth, stroller, camera, sanity, etc.

but this time i had help. and she had petting (that’s Flash the Miniature Mediterranean Donkey, btw).

the result? a bit of a yawner, actually.

sparklet only really identifies things as animals when they move — everything else is just a big carpet. but, if the animals are moving, she can’t pet them. if they’re not moving, then what’s the point?

See All the Photos on Flickr:
national zoo

oh, ethyl — we hardly knew ye so well

July 20, 2010

i love going to the petting zoo, and — according to gowalla, and foursquare before that — we’ve been to the “kid’s farm” roughly two dozen times since early May.we go because i love that sparklet enjoys going to a “farm,” even if it is a fake farm with fru-fru animals like Miniature Mediterranean Donkeys and Anglo-Nubian Goats. that, and it’s only a couple blocks away so we go all the time.

today, however, we noticed someone was missing — Ethyl, one of two Nigerian Dwarf Goats. (fwiw, the other is named Lucy … in a fit of “I Love Lucy” hilarity.)

we asked one of the zoo keepers (who was really quite worked up about it) about what happened and she said Ethyl passed away earlier in the week after some time in the Zoo’s hospital.

now, sparklet’s obviously too young to know any better … but before we lose any more Zoo friends, we decided to do a “guestbook” of those we see the most:

Pat Miniature Mediterranean Donkey	Giuseppe Miniature Mediterranean Donkey
George Miniature Mediterranean Donkey	Flash Miniature Mediterranean Donkey
Tulip Holstein Cow	Rose Polled Hereford Cow
Mortimer San Clemente Island Goat	Iris Anglo-Nubian Goat
Lucky Anglo-Nubian Goat	Marla San Clemente Island Goat
Lucy Nigerian Dwarf Goat	Cirrus Alpaca
Orion Alpaca	Ziggy Alpaca

See All the Photos on Flickr:
kids farm, national zoo, washington, dc

baby zoo animals

June 23, 2010

there’s been rash of baby animals being born at the national zoo — gorilla, red panda, kiwi, hornbills, etc — and because we never really make it past the petting zoo, we hadn’t managed to see any of them.

it’s crazy hot right now, which has mostly kept us inside in the afternoons, but we made a rare exception and drove over to the zoo to run in an see the new baby gorilla in her (mercifully) air conditioned enclosure.
petting zoo

June 4, 2010

not saying we go a lot, but i know the names of more petting zoo animals than i know the names of people on who work on my floor.

See All the Photos on Flickr:
kid’s farm, national zoo, washington, dc
zoo portraits

June 4, 2010

See All the Photos on Flickr:
zoo portraits, washington, dc
the zoo

May 6, 2010

See All the Photos on Flickr:
the zoo
almost there

April 29, 2010

our entrance to the zoo (the bridge, by the petting zoo) has been closed for construction since february, which has put quite the crimp on our spring. wondered by today, and its all back to normal. of course, we didn’t have enough time to make it past the sign, but maybe next week.