Friday, April 22, 2011

First Field Trip

Today was Chip's first school field trip, and I was able to go chaperone.  We also had his two closest school friends, Jon and Finn, in our group, and they were all hyped beyond belief to be there.

Finn, G, and Jon, ready to enter the zoo.

The lion didn't mind.

The real Komodo dragon wasn't on exhibit.

We got to see Po, the fine-month-old panda!

Efficiency at the petting zoo.

We were first in line for the train, so they chose the best seats on the train.  Chip really wanted to sit backwards "so I can dangle my feet over the edge," but I thought all seats faced forward.  Imagine the boys' excitement when they found this waiting for them at the caboose!

We are very, very proud of G for conquering his fear of heights today.  He made it over halfway up the wall!

This occurrence of red-eye is just too cool.

See anything interesting?

Kelly is a beauty, isn't she?

G was enthralled by this elephant.  He asked lots of questions and watching her for about half an hour.

Taller than a giraffe!

This mama giraffe has a very tall ten-month-old baby!

Roooooooooooar!

We had the great fortune of watching these researchers study Kelly.  They wanted to find out how well Kelly used her sense of hearing to determine which of two barrels held more carrots.  She chose correctly every time.
So the trip was a resounding success.  We stayed all day (even after the rest of the class went back to school), and G was interested in everything he saw.  His favorites were not only the elephants, but also the meerkats, which he watched for about fifteen minutes without moving or speaking.  All three boys in my group behaved perfectly, which was both a surprise and a delight to me.

To top off a very special day, we went to dinner at Kuroshio with Bun and Papa; my mom tried raw sushi for the first time and loved it - even the octopus!  Between the zoo, the dinner, and the fact that we came home to a clean house, it was a really great day, from start to finish.