Howloween at the Zoo

Rachel came for a visit to help out with my mom. Her visit coincided with our zoo's "Howloween". Sweet Pea dressed up and we went on a scavenger hunt. It was a perfect morning full of fun and animals.

The zoo had pumpkins for the animals to smash and enjoy

Meeting a Screech Owl

Sea Lions are having fun with the children

GRRRR...

Cutie Pie was a bit intrigued by the tiger painting.

We got a little scared, but still posed for the picture

Visiting the penguins

Polar Bear Birthday

I love our Polar Bears at our zoo, especially Conrad. I remember several trips watching him "play" with the goodies and enrichment items they left for him and his sister, Tasul. Today was their 29th {I think} birthday. They celebrated with colored cream cheese on the windows and a giant ice cake with goodies inside. Sweet Pea and I joined grandma, Sara and her two kiddos to celebrate with the bears.

The customary Bear picture :)

A Trip to the Zoo

Ms A's class along with the other two Kindergarten classes went to the zoo. I love our zoo, so I volunteered to be a chaperone. Our first stop was the brown bears. There was a group of people gathered together, which always means something's going on with an animal. We caught up to the group and saw this little guy at least 30 feet up a tree. We enjoyed watching him go up, check out his world and then climb down.

A Trip to the Zoo

Ms A has a few days off for Parent Teacher Conferences, so we took advantage of the sun and extra time to go to one of our favorites places, the zoo. We have our favorites to see, Ms A the giraffe and me the Polar Bears, but today, Ms A wanted to add a few other animals. We ended up seeing most of the zoo. We were excited to see all three black bears. She exclaimed to some stranger, "that looks just like the bear my mommy saw on her hike!" We learned and saw something new about ducks, they like to dive in the water.
We stayed their and watched them dive and eat the algae on the walls.

We also stopped off and visited the Trillium Farm area. The Oregon Zoo uses the produce to feed the farm animals. We ended our time there with a visit to the Sea Lions, a new favorite of Ms A's. She loved watching them swim and declared "They are so beautiful." It was an enjoyable time.

Crocodiles and Giraffes

We love our zoo membership because we can go for a couple of hours and see what we want and go back another time to see something new. Since Aunt Sara volunteers at our local zoo, she informed us that the sea lions and Malaysians Sun Bear were getting enrichment treats (ice cubes with treats inside). Ms A and I were excited to join her and watch the animals. While we were waiting we checking out the crocodiles. We met Lancelot and Morgan Le Fay, the 11.5 ft and 7 ft respectively crocodiles. Aren't those great names? We waited to see them keeper feed them, but today wasn't the day (they feed them once a week typically). Ms A was excited about their teeth ( they have 65-70) and the way they hide in the water. Here she is with Lance

Ms A's newest favorite are the reticulated giraffes. Here she is with Bacarry:
And another picture of Bacarry eating

We had a great time and can't wait to go back again.
Don't you love zoo memberships?!?!

Going to the Zoo

Sara and her children came to visit us for a portion of their Spring Break! It was wonderful having them here. Ms. A was SUPER EXCITED to play with Mr. P and Ms. E and loved her 'sleep over' with Ms. E. :) On Thursday, I started to get a little sick, but that didn't stop us from visiting the zoo. We loaded the kiddies up and drove to MAX for a ride to our fabulous zoo. :)

With it being Spring Break, the zoo was pretty packed even at 3:00pm. (a bit surprising to us, the zoo closes it's gates at 4pm.) We hit some of our favorites - Mr. P wanted the Orangutuans, but they weren't out. :( We visited the Polar Bears, which are always a favorite. The kids love checking out the others informational activities there as well.




They loved climbing in the den and seeing how tall they were.

We saw Samudra, the newest elephant, he has grown so much! I sat out for a short break and listened to a tiger growl while everyone else visited the Rainforest - crocodiles and the African Safari - giraffes, Ms. A's newest favorite!

It was a fun afternoon. :)

Thanks Sara! (for the pics and the fun)

Sweet Pea's First Bicycle

After months of growing and begging, we took Ms. A out to get her first bicycle. She's been asking for one since our stay in Malaysia. She was very insistent that it be pink and purple. When we went to the store she went to this purple bike with a little bag and a water bottle. She tried it out in the store and did a pretty good job for a first-timer. We pick out her helmet and she rode her bike out of the store (after we purchased it.) She refused to take her helmet off and as soon as we arrived home she asked dad if she could ride her bike. They had a great time together.

In other news, we had a busy day. Ms. A and I went to the zoo for the Membership Appreciation Day. Since we went yesterday, yes Ms. A and I love the zoo, I asked Ms. A what animal she wanted to see. Giraffes were her reply. I was a bit surprised since she loves the primates and the elephants, but I couldn't deter her from her goal. We had a fun time. When we came home, we went over to our friends' home. Reed was helping them install tile in their kitchen. Ms. A missed her daddy, so we stay for a short time until Ms. A's friend came home.

Jen invited us to go to the Apple Orchard with them, so Ms. A and I went to check it out. There were horses nearby that we visited. Ms. A asked if she could ride them. It seems she thinks we can ride whatever horses we see. I had to explain to her that they were resting and besides horses need saddles for us to ride them. She was okay with that idea. We had an enjoyable time with Jen and her children.

Zoo Class

I'll apologize for the lack of pictures, but I had two three-year olds under my care. It was great, but no spare hands.

After weeks of waiting and the constant questions of "Is it zoo camp day?" and "Is it Friday?" The answer was finally "YES!" As you can tell our home has been anxiously awaiting this wonderful day!! I signed her up to take a class at our local zoo. We invited Ms. A's friend, Mr. A, to come along. We have a play date with Mr. A and Ms. A was tickled to have him come with us. I got everyone loaded up and we took a ride on MAX to the zoo. The kids were chatting excitedly about the train and the animals they would see.

We had two wonderful volunteers, Rosie and Peggy, who talked to us about animal families. The children loved hearing about the way different parents take care of their babies. Ms. A, Mr. A and the other children did a few activities. Then the volunteers talked about birds and how they take care of their young. The kids were excited to make a nest (shredded paper) and feed their babies (us adults) their worms (felt and paper - no real worms). They also protected us from the mean eagle, Peggy, who wanted to take away the babies. Ms. A has a very threatening "CHEEP!" that scared away the eagle.

After the activities, we met Priscilla the male tortoise. We were able to pet Priscilla with two fingers and on his back because our fingers look like carrots to Priscilla. We also petted the softest rabbit and saw a family of mice. Ms. A loved petting the animals. We went and visited some zoo babies, as well. Our zoo has three baby Visayan warty piglets, a new Saki Monkey and of course Samudra the elephant, Sam for short. We loved seeing the elephant and the piglets. The monkeys weren't out.

It was a wonderful morning. All of us had a great time!!

A Few Random Events

It's been a busy week full of changes. Friday, August 8th, Ms. A and I joined Aunt Sara at the Portland Zoo. They have a new exhibit, DINOSAURS, which will be leaving the first part of September. Sara and I had a fun time watching Ms. A's reaction to the the dinosaurs. It varied from excitement to sheer terror (momma T-Rex roars). They had a dinosaur that spit water, which she didn't like. I had to run past it with her in my arms. :) We also visited the elephants, Ms. A's favorite part and the Polar Bears, my favorite part. We rode the train as well. Ms. A had a fabulous time sitting to Aunt Sara.

While we were at the zoo, my mom called to tell us our grandmother passed away earlier that day. We were so grateful we were able to see her on our trip to Utah. It was such a blessing to say our farewells. She is now at peace and can be with my grandfather again.

Saturday was a hard day for Ms. A. Aunt Sara packed up the moving van, thanks for the assistance everyone who helped, and moved to Springfield. She will be attending Law School and we could not be more happy for her and her children. They will be desperately missed. (Every morning Ms. A asks if her cousins and Aunt Sara are here!) Back to the move: I drove Sara's car down loaded with plants and other things. There were members from her new ward there waiting to until the van. It took two hours and they had to take the door off for the fridge and piano. Sara was SO EXCITED to have her piano!

Sunday was nice and relaxing. Sara went to church with us, then loaded up her car and children to go back to Springfield. Ms. A said goodbye only after the promise of going down to visit.

Monday, Ms. A and I went on a shopping spree. When Ms. A was younger, I checked out this great book by Nancy Tafuri called "Silly Little Goose" from our library. It tells the story of a goose looking for a place to build a nest. Ms. A loved the parts that read Silly Little Goose whenever the area was the home for another animal. I thought it would be a good addition to Ms. A's books, so we went to Powell's to see if they had it. Another store did, so they sent it over and we purchased it on Monday. Ms. A was so excited to pay for her book and then carry it in her own little bag. She 'read' it the whole way home. We did some other shopping and priced out a new tv console.

Later that evening, Reed joined us for another shopping run to look for consoles. We found what we wanted at Costco, thanks for the tip Mara.

Tuesday, I went berry picking in our backyard and found huge, (at least twice the normal size we have) sweet, juicy raspberries. They were delicious and were eaten before I could take a picture. :) After dinner, we borrowed our friends' truck, thanks Bells and purchased our new console. We had to recruit a couple of neighbors to get it out of the truck and into our home. It is now in it's new home along with the old entertainment center, speakers and receiver which we are trying to sell. The tv was sold within 24 hours of listing it on Craigslist! WOO HOO! I'll have to figure out how to watch the Olympics. :)

Visiting Grandma Valerie aka Mom

Sara and her kids drove out a few days earlier than us to go to Yellowstone Park. We joined them and my mom the following Monday. Something about driving in a car for that length of time vs an hour flight and 3 three hour drive sounded so much better to me.

We went through the Twin Falls Temple Open House. I was born in Twin Falls, so I wanted to see the new temple. Ms. A did such a great job with her inside voice. She even wanted to use it on the temple grounds.

Tuesday and Wednesday we were in Utah. Thursday was left for mom. She planned an Un-birthday Party to celebrate everyone's birthdays. Rachel and Bin stayed up past midnight to decorate. They did a great job. We opened presents once everyone woke up, then after breakfast we started our day. We went to Tautphaus Zoo where the kids young and old had fun looking at the animals and playing in the children's area. Ms. A loved chicken/egg toys. She curled right up to pretend to be an egg in the nest. Afterwards, she kept asking where her daddy chicken was. I think she missed Reed.

Pizza was next on the list, then a short drive up to Rigby and the Riot Zone. They had go-carts and bumper boats for kids and adults. Mr. P, Ms. E and Mr. N, a neighbor boy, drove their own cars! Ms. A got to be a passenger with me and Grandma. She loved the go-carts. The boats were fun. We enjoyed splashing each other. We played an abbreviated version of Miniature Golf. I loved watching the positions Ms. A would get into to putt. She'd move the ball 3-7 inches from the hole, hit it in and jump for joy at her success. She also liked putting on the hills. I didn't get much playing in, but I loved watching her. The last place we visited within the Riot Zone was the Inflatables. Ms. A loved the jumping and playing. She had to try every Inflatable out and then went back to her favorites, the castle and obstacle course.

Friday was the Idaho International Dance Festival. It has been a long standing family tradition to attend the show. We love the dances, costumes and the wonderful entertainment. The kids did a great job especially considering the show started at 7:30pm. Mom purchased front row seats and all were entranced by the spinning, jumping and dancing. Ms. A wanted to dance with them, so I promised her we could do that at the end of the show. She was tickled to get out there and 'groove'. It was quite upsetting when we had to leave, she kept asking if we could return so she could dance some more.

Saturday was the I. Horace and Freda Kearsley Family Reunion, my dad's parents. As a child, we used to get together once a month with the family members for Family Home Evening. It was wonderful to be able to rekindle those family ties. My grandmother past away two years ago, so it's been hard for my grandfather. It was wonderful to see him again. He and his family homesteaded in Driggs Idaho, hence the brand logo on the shirts and the pose of my cousin 'branding' her dad. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren had a great time playing games from grandpa's childhood. We all enjoyed seeing his and grandma's belonging and remembering the memories that they brought back.

After the reunion we came home to grandma's and everyone but mom and I had a waterfight. Ms. A backed out once she got wet. She loves the water, but not having someone else get her wet.

We had a wonderful time visiting my mom. She has done so much for us! She's an AMAZING lady whose has influenced me in many ways. We love you mom!

Sunday, we drove home. We stopped off for a short visit with my dad. He's some health issues which makes it difficult to remember us or to communicate with us. I'm glad we stopped by to see him. He recognized us after a few minutes. I had to reintroduce him to Ms. A. She was one year old the last time he saw her. We also stopped off to visit with my sister, Marika, and her husband, Tim. We had a good visit. Sara wanted to visit a family in LaGrande, so we stopped off and had a lovely time visiting with them. They fed us a delicious dinner and the kids got their wiggles out on their play structure, trampoline (which Ms. A loved) and the toys. Thank you Huntsman family!

We drove into our driveway at 1am, grateful to be home and excited to fall into our own beds for a good night sleep.

Adventures in KL

After living in Malaysia for almost five months, we finally ventured down to Kuala Lumpur, affectionately known as KL. We left Saturday morning and drove for four hours with only two stops - Ms. A had a hard time sitting still. Miraculously, we found our hotel. (The roads were challenging, the map was great, but I'm terrible with maps, Ms. A was talking non-stop and our hotel was being renovated, so we didn't recognize the building from the internet picture.) Our hotel had no windows (a unique experience). It was in the heart of Chinatown, excellent food and great shopping. The back of the hotel emptied out to Petaling Street. The street is closed at night and it comes alive with tons of vendors selling their goods.

The next morning we took a taxi to the Petronas Twin Towers. We wanted to see the view from the Skybridge until we hear the earliest availability was 6pm (we were there at 9am) and was saw the miniature city waiting to go up. We decided to check out the shopping in the base of the towers and then take pictures outside. The towers were awe-inspiring! We had a fun time trying to get us and a full view of the towers in a picture.

We walked over to our next stop, the Menara or KL Tower. It was a nice walk that allowed us to see a bit more of the city. In front of the tower there are some fountains. Ms. A had a blast playing in the water. We also purchased a collapsible ball which Ms. A opened and closed. :)

We took a taxi over to Merdeka Square to see the world's tallest flagpole. It is also the location where the Union Jack was lowered for the last time in 1957 and Malaysia gained her independence. Malaysians have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of this event this past year. Ms. A kicked her new ball around entertaining us and other visitors.

After the square we took a taxi over to the Berjaya Times Square, a mall with over 900 shops and restaurants. It also has an indoor roller coaster which was breathtaking to see. We had lunch on the third floor and we could hear the roller coaster above us on the 5th - 7th floors.

Monday, we drove to Zoo Negara, or the National Zoo. We were tickled to see the name of the snack shop, so we took a picture of the Nelson Corn in a Cup. Ms. A was thrilled to feed an elephant a sugarcane! She kept telling us that the elephant wanted more food. He even kneeled down on his back leg hoping for a treat. I felt bad for the elephant because he could smell the sugarcane, but it was out of his reach. When we saw the storks she asked if they could go on her arm, she remembered holding the macaws and pigeons that we had seen previously in Malaysia and Greece. We tried to explain that they were too big, but she didn't believe us until we got closer. When she saw them, she quickly rushed to Reed and asked him to carry her. :) I had Reed take a picture of the macaque because Sara, my sister, studied Black Crested Macaques in college. Reed has a unique attraction to unusual signs, hence the warning sign about throwing stones at the primates. :)

Our last stop were the Batu Caves. One word: WOW! I'm a wimp when it comes to stair climbing, so I wasn't too excited to climb up 272 stairs(plus more inside the cave), but I did it and it was amazing. Ms. A had an unfortunate run-in with some of the monkeys. While Reed was taking pictures of the monkeys playing in the garbage can, a monkey got too close to Ms. A and she tripped over a nearby monkey. When the monkey recovered, he went over to some of his friends and they gained up on Ms. A. When Reed and Ms. A saw what was happening, Ms. A , in a panicked voice asked Reed to pick her up. he quickly complied, but the monkeys didn't back down. Reed was able to keep them at bay, while he and Ms. A made a rush to leave that area. Ms. A wasn't hurt, just scared. She pulled us out of the cave. Hopefully, this won't scar her for life. She had a fun time chasing the pigeons. :)

Dusit Zoo and Vimanmek Mansion

On Sunday, we visited the Vimanmek Mansion and Dusit Zoo. The mansion is the home of the world's largest Teakwood Home. It was built by Rama V (the son of the king in Anna and the King). Photos of the mansion were not allowed. The mansion is still used by the current king when important visitors come. The home was broken up into five areas, each distinguished by a color. The king's tea set was amazing, a set for each day of the week. Each day was a different color. The current king was born on Monday so his color is yellow. The Thai people will wear yellow on Monday to show respect for their king.

We also visited Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall, which has been turned into a museum. Ms. A was running all over saying "Let me show you something!" as she pointed to a case full of treasures, repeatedly. I guess she's heard us say that to her enough times that she thought she'd be the tour guide. :)

The Dusit Zoo was 47 acres of animals and fun. We had a fabulous time. Sara and her children would have loved it! There were so many animals, displays play areas and water activities. We had a great time seeing the kangaroo, elephants and anteater. Ms. A had fun on the tram that takes you around the zoo.

Elephant Dance

We arrived safely back from Thailand this afternoon.
I will post pictures and movies once they are organized (416 pictures and 21 movies), but I couldn't resist sharing this movie from the Dusit Zoo in Bangkok.


We found out that the elephant rides were further north than we wanted to go. So I was pretty excited to see these Asiatic Elephants at the zoo. They even 'danced' to the African music nearby. I was even more tickled when Ms. A joined in the dance. Reed and I think that the elephants may have been rescued from a show or circus because the dancing didn't seem typical.

Bukit Merah Resort

A co-worker of Reed's recommended this great place to visit. It is called Bukit Merah Resort. Bukit is hill in Malay and Merah means red. We enjoyed visiting the Ecopark, Orang Utan Island and the Waterpark. It was wonderful to see the animals. The island was interesting. Instead of the Orang Utans being in cages, we were. We walked inside an enclosed path that introduced us to 7 Orang Utans (ages 2 to 24 years) and 3 infants (ages 1 month to 2 years). Orang Utan's name derives from the Malay orang (person) and Indonesian (forest).

Boat ride to Orang Utan Island

Ms A loved that these Orangutans were the same age as she was.

Bear cat

Kisses

Reed and Ms. A loved the Waterpark! They played in the wave pool, Activity Pool and the Kids Adventure River. Reed went to discover more parts of the park while Ms A played in the sand. I got a little tired of waiting (he was gone for around 40 minutes), so Ms A and I went looking for him. We found each other and he, very excitedly, took us to where he disappeared for such a long time - The Boomerang! It is an exhilarating ride and the first and only one of its kind in Malaysia and in South East Asia. Reed went on it four or five times. He said it was the first ride in a long time that he was actually scared to try out, but he instantly fell in love with it. He enjoyed the ride so much that when I asked him to go again so I could record it, he and Ms. A quickly exited the pool. Afterwards, he stated that I should post the video to my blog! :) Check out his last ride.



Here's a link to our other video. I had issues uploading it.

The Boomerang

Penang Bird Park

We ventured across the bridge over to Butterworth today to see the Penang Bird Park. After getting lost for about 30 minutes, a norm for us, we found our destination. We enjoyed seeing the huge variety of birds they had. Ms. A wasn't too excited about the closeness of the birds, but I think she had a fun time. :)

The park had a few other animals besides birds. We saw a crocodile, turtles, tortoise, snakes and a deer!

Australian Masked Owl

Blue and Green Macaw

Crocodile

Double-wattled Cassowary

Flamingo

Golden owl

Golden-breasted Starling

Great Hornbill

Painted Stork

Reed feeding a bird

White Bellied Sea Eagle