Trying to Wear Them Down, first the zoo…

I took a lot of pictures yesterday. We hit the zoo and Pinkerton Park. The kids had a great time and were totally dirty by the end of the day!

First order of the day was a quick stop by the County Adminstrative Complex to drop a document off at Benefits. MaryVic was tickled pink to meet another Mary also named after both of her grandmothers! We also ran by HR for a quick visit. MaryVic regaled the nice ladies with all the details of a 1980′s cartoon series, SkyDancers. It actually is not a ‘quality’ animation but she loves it and could talk about it in detail. She surprised us all by talking about the ‘netherworld’ and ‘sky clone’.

And then we were off to the zoo! I tried to twitter but it can’t find my location yet so all my twitters were not successful once we were at the zoo. I don’t know why the first one from the zoo went but none of the others did. We must have just parked in the right area of the parking lot.

I had joked about there being 6 buses on a previous visit to the zoo and Murphy’s Law was in full effect as there were at least 20 buses at the zoo on Thursday. Franklin Road Academy, Davidson County metro schools and Franklin Special School District were there and I’m sure there were other schools.

As we went in, we saw the sign for the zoo show, Practice Makes Perfect, and decided to attend. I figured by the time we got past the first animal exhibits and had snack it would be time for the show.

First stop the big blue parrots.

MaryVic, navigator. She recycled the map right after this. We didn’t need it today in her opinion.

I was waving at her through the trees and took this accidental shot of my shoes.

Snacks before the big show…

The set, stage. MaryVic was most disappointed that this show didn’t have the animals coming through the holes in the wall.

And it starts and they are mesmerized because…

the trainer has a big bird that talks!

And a box turtle with three feet. She probably lost one foot via a lawn mower and now cannot survive on her own. This picture was taken right before she, the turtle, peed on the trainer who didn’t even pause in her dialogue.

William watching.. He was not always this still. The show didn’t catch his attention like it did his sister’s.

Oooo… a Hawkin’s Hawk. It eats jackrabbits that are twice it’s size by ganging up on it and wearing it down till they can kill it. This was the well trained bird and it flew around the audience area to different landings with treats on them.

Where’s the hawk!

One landing point. That is another trainer standing up there.

And back again.

The little noisy green bird. Actually it was quiet during the show but she warned us against them as pets, messy and noisy.

The Franklin Road Academy students were delighted to volunteer one of their moms for a demonstration. The bird took a dollar.

And, after it’s treat, brought it back and laid it in the ladies hand.

They let the kids have a closer look at the hawk and turtle but no touching!

William insisted on going up himself.

A quick stop by the meerkats. They were not out when we passed by on the way to the show.

MaryVic didn’t bump her head on the snake tunnel today but she was unable to convince brother to go through it.

William crawled around a lot. Following sister over the rubber bridge.

Deciding not to do the slide.

In the blue area for toddlers.

MaryVic ran over to give William a hug but I missed the shot. I think he couldn’t get up here and was a little disappointed.

So he came over and attacked Momma.

He can get on the ladder but was then stuck.

Following sister. She wanted us to crawl through the cubicles. It’s easy, just slide. It is easy, if you are short, otherwise it’s just another head banging day.