Wild Animal Park

Yesterday, Naomi, Noah, December, and I went to the Wild Animal Park. We had such a great time! Here are Noah and December standing in front of the flamingos. I always thought of these birds as so unique and elegant...but they are loud and smelly. They're still unique, though!


I didn't check to see what the names of these birds are, but aren't they cool?? I love the hair tufts on the top of their heads.


Here are Noah and December in front of the duck hordes. The ducks were by far December's favorite! She just stared at them and didn't want to be taken away (I think she liked being in such close proximity).


Noah and December are driving a little remote-controlled boat in the pond with this wheel (though I don't know if they know that's what they're doing...they just liked to spin the wheel)


These birds didn't mind December coming right up to them! They'd fly away if I walked by them, but tiny December didn't threaten them at all!

These birds also liked to perch in the trees...they looked so funny, a humongous bird just sitting on a little branch like a robin or sparrow would do!


We walked though the "Heart of Africa" exhibits, and we saw so many cool animals! It was a cooler day yesterday (highs around 65*F/18*C), so all of the animals were out playing around instead of hiding in the shade. It was a great day to go!


This is one of the strangest animals I've ever seen! It is an okapi, and it looks like a mish-mash of all sorts of different animals! It is most closely related to a giraffe, though. If you ever come and visit us, we'll have to take you to the Wild Animal Park. It's such a beautiful place!



Today we are getting ready for Thanksgiving -- cleaning the house, preparing the dishes that can be made ahead of time, etc. Through our church and the seminary, we have been given some giftcards for various grocery stores to use for Thanksgiving dinner, and that has been really wonderful! The area churches collected food for the seminarians, and it was all dropped off at the seminary yesterday. Last night, Brad, December, and I joined the crew of people organizing the incredible amounts of food. December probaby did more damage than good, taking food away from our organized lines and putting it wherever she wanted, but it was fun to help out. The generosity of everyone here is incredible! So this morning all of the seminarians went "shopping," and we got some really nice food! We have been blessed by the churches here.