Say Cheese!

Meet my little striped friend. He was in quite the show off mood on Saturday when we visited the zoo.

 I think the warm weather really tickled his fancy and he was all smiles!

Have a fabulous Friday!

Sweet Shot Tuesday!

Today's Sweet Shot comes from our recent trip to the zoo this past Saturday. {f 6.3, 1/250, ISO 200}

 I couldn't resist this guy's beautiful feathers! He is a Toucan. Isn't he handsome! { f 6.3, 1/250, ISO 200}

And check out that bill! He looks ferocious doesn't he? Those "teeth" are actually an illusion. His beak is serrated to help him grind fruit and is hollow so that it doesn't weigh him down. Fascinating little guy!

{f 6.3, 1/100, ISO 200}

Sharing with Darcy for "Sweet Shot Tuesday" and Patty for "Photo a la {M}ode" over at Finding Serendipity. Check out Patty's blog if you haven't already and get your shots ready to share for tomorrow. She's having a give away!

The Cat in the Hat Knows Alot About That!

We love Dr. Seuss! Have I told you that before? We have all the books and read them over and over again. I secretly hoped Emma-Caroline would have been born on March 2nd, Dr. Seuss' birthday, but I am happy she came on March third just as much. We watch our local PBS channel which has great educational cartoons like Clifford the Big Red Dog, Martha Speaks, Arthur and their most recent addition, The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That. This past week, Emma-Caroline caught the advertisement on PBS that the Cat in the Hat would be at the Knoxville Zoo this weekend and she wouldn't stop talking about it until I agreed to take her to meet Mr. Cat.  We arrived at the zoo and found our way back to the Cat in the Hat Meet and Greet line.  

Howie graciously waited in line for the 45 minutes it would take to actually get to the Cat while the girls and I went to look at other fun exciting animal friends.

Finally it was our turn and the girls were BOTH thrilled to see him.

Usually Sophie runs screaming from any large costume animal, but The Cat passed the "Sophie-Not-So-Scary Test" and I got a photo with all three.

It was a beautiful day to be at the zoo today and I am glad we finally got to meet the real Cat in the Hat.

Goodnight Gorilla!

If you know the story Goodnight Gorilla, the zookeeper unknowingly takes all the zoo animals home with him for the night after the Gorilla unlocks all of their cages and they quietly follow him to his house. We spent this past Saturday morning at the zoo with our friends Karley and Abby. I think the girls only saw the penguins before they were side tracked by the new interactive play area, "Wee Play" at the Knoxville Zoo. It's a great area for the kids where they are able to pretend they are actual zoo keepers. There are different job areas like zoo veterinarian, animal feeders, etc. They really got into their zoo role playing. Maybe one day, Emma-Caroline or Sophie will have a job as a zookeeper. Let's hope that the gorillas and other animals won't follow them home.

Wee Play

Riding the carousel.

Brushing the goat

Two friends watching two friends.

Caring for the goats.