Wednesday, August 31, 2016

A Quiet Trip to a Park

Much of the area where I live has been a newer
area of residential construction. Ella and I traveled
up the mesa to an area that was once all dirt.



Years ago, children played in the large dirt lot on the mesa,
but now there is a park that has a field for sports games.



I liked the view of the mountain,
but Ella was ready to play on the equipment.





The park has a more traditional climbing structure,
but it also had loops to climb through.




I thought they were interesting photo subjects.



Ella was happy that she could balance while sitting
on a loop!




Ella's favorite structure was rock climbing!



Ella started out sitting, but realized that she could
stand up on the rock!





We went to the other side of the rock.
Look at the clouds!



Is it time to think or dream?



Ella said it was time for lunch....








Wednesday, August 24, 2016

A Trip to the Zoo

A Schleich flamingo arrived last week.
When it found out that real flamingos are at the zoo,
it really wanted to go see them!





Since the flamingo only wanted to see the flamingos,
Ella came along as the main companion for our trip to the zoo.







The flamingos were fascinating enough to stay next to
their exhibit, but we decided to enjoy and appreciate the
other animals and features at the zoo.





A carousel of wild animals is a newer feature at the zoo.
Fun for many, and beautiful or interesting for the rest of us.






The polar bears are among our favorite animals at the zoo!



I do not know why they have times when they have green
in their fur. It may be related to the water, but I assume that they
are well cared for and the green is not against their health.








We enjoyed watching the two bears play.




There are two newer lions living at our zoo.
The enclosure was redesigned for them.



Our zoo is an older zoo. They had a lion and lioness
who passed away related to age.



The new companions are as beautiful as the previous pair!





In the section with African animals, there is a seating
area that has a tiled chair often used for photos with children.



Ella had her turn on the side arm.



There are a few tall tree trunks with burnt designs on them
that add to the environmental design.



Something that surprised me was a sculpture
with blue bottles on it!



I heard the birds, so I walked on the path
under their enclosure.



The cheetah was resting in her exhibit.



The chimpanzees have a family with several young
ones around two years old.





They were especially active!




I believe that the rhino is the one who arrived when
he was young. He has become much bigger!



The giraffes wandered toward the back for lunch.



Mama elephant also waited for lunch.



Her three year old played with the ball.



Ella and I meandered back towards the gate
to leave soon.




The tortoises were out and resting.



They are only in the exhibit during the warm weather,
so we appreciated our opportunity to view them.






Ella took her last chance for a photo before we left.



Adios!!!