living childhood: "Thought breeds thought;: Brawling Bears (an insanely long photo essay)

On Friday, we went to the Minnesota Zoo with some friends. Their current theme is Farm Babies so one of the first things we saw was exhibits with baby chicks and bunnies. I love watching my girls taking pictures of everything that fascinates them.

It was cold when we got to the zoo so we enjoyed an indoor exhibit of penguins before we went outside.

We saw Amur Leopard.

We enjoyed the cute little prairie dogs in their village. I grew up in Western Kansas knowing the location of several villages. Because prairie dogs are so destructive they are not often found anymore.

We saw Dromedary Camel, which are right at home in Minnesota's cold climate.

We saw a small herd of Takin. Takin are believed to be the source/inspiration for the golden fleece in Jason and the Argonauts.

The girls picked dandelions during our picnic lunch break.

The kids petted goats at the farm.

They checked out the dairy cattle (if Beck reads this, they had a Dutch Belted - I tried to interest C but she just figured it was just another Holstein). The next picture is gratuitous - I have to show a backlight shot that I love.

The tractor was more interesting than the calves that were in this barn.

All the kids with us just loved the chicken props at the chicken coop (there were lots of different cool varieties of chicken but they weren't as interesting to our chicks).

Waiting for the tractor to take us back up the trail.

Leaving the farm.

The girls are depressed because we are preparing to leave the zoo - C had an all-nighter at Awanas and I wanted to get her home for some rest.

But wait!! I didn't show you the coolest thing that we all saw at the zoo.

At the grizzly bear exhibit the largest bear liked to watch the audience. He would swim back and forth in front of the glass people watching, which is cool. But he got a heck of a lot cooler in a little bit.