The Little Langemann Family: Calgary Zoo

After a full Canada Day, we took our overtired little girls to the Wilkie's home to stay the night. We had a comfortable night's rest and leisurely headed out for the Calgary Zoo around 10:30 the next morning. Just a side comment - I couldn't get over how clean all the Wilkie's floors were! It made me realize that's how tidy life used to be before kids crumbs became a part of our daily life! :o) Thank-You Lord, for crumbs, and for the little ones that make them. :o)

Joy prefers to be busy and the quiet book I picked up for a dollar somewhere works well, as it has a variety of things for her to explore by chewing. :o)

Hope was having a cheese stick for a snack on the way to the Zoo and she was sharing it with her baby. :o)

This is how most of the day went - Josh holding Hope, and me taking pictures, and that suited all of us just fine!

Joy-Belle was a really good girl and contented herself in the stroller most of the time.

That was the only decent (as in charming...modest...) pic of the hippopotamus that I got. It took him so long to get from the pen to the pool that I just saw his backside most of the time. I know it's not a great "picture" but it had a funny side to it so I thought I'd post it anyways. :o)

Watching the hippo was this amazing creature. I was taken with the giraffes, and found their beauty stunning.

As you can see, it was another lovely day outside, not too hot for the most part.

I think Josh had the most fun of all of us! He was so good at telling Hope about the animals and helping her find the ones that were hiding in their pens.

Now those are eyelashes! Isn't she a cutie? I would name her Georgette if she was mine, and if she was indeed a she. I don't really know...

I always thought giraffes were more yellow and black, but these certainly weren't!

We wondered if the lions would scare Hope, but nope! She loved 'em.

It did get hot as the day wore on, and Joy had her sippie cup in hand like a big girl.

When I picked her up later I discovered she had done a very goo job of soaking herself with it, which probably helped keep her cool in the stroller as the afternoon got warmer and warmer.

A kangaroo.

Josh making sure Hope got some water too.

This peacock and its mate came to visit Joy and I at a picnic table while Josh and Hope were watching a presentation on gorillas.

I grew up knowing that peacocks had big tails, but I kinda thought they were more big in the sense of "wide" not "long." My goodness, did that bird ever have a long tail. I would not enjoy navigating with that large endowment of feathers trailing behind me. I'm glad God made me me, not a peacock!

Beautiful, though. :o)

Josh got a little mid-afternoon treat. He shared one bite with me (that was all I wanted...I'm not a big ice-cream fan) and tried to share with Hope, but she wasn't interested. I guess the popcorn twists had her happy.

The flamingos. They look remarkably like the lawn ornaments Grandma used to have, as far as size and posture go anyways. :o)

I do believe the zookeeper said this guy was the first elephant to have crowns put on his tusks. Apparently he split a tusk while playing with something in his quarters and cracked it, hence the reason for the caps.

Holding the wiggly one. :o)

And holding the other one, my big girl Hope.

Hi there.

Hopey spotted the playground several times and asked to go on it. Josh told her she had to wait, and she did, but was glad when she did get to go for a bit, though I don't know if she actually went down the slide or not... the thrill for her tends to be standing there talking about it.

Zonked out again.

A stop at the butterfly house to start the end of our trip to the Zoo. The flowers in there were lovely.

Hopey LOVED it, of course. She really wanted to touch a butterfly, or have one land on her, and Josh said one did rest on her shoulder for a very brief moment. This particular butterfly had beautiful blue decals on the other side of its wings, but sadly I didn't capture it.

I enjoyed sitting by the lily pond with the stroller while Josh and Hope roamed.

The reflection was so clear it made me look twice to make sure it was actually a reflection, not some sort of flower growing underwater!!

Just what I was hoping for - a butterfly to land on the stroller so I could get some closer shots of one.

Maybe we had some juice spilled on it or something... :o) Could be. :o)

Poor Hope slipped and fell and hurt her legs a bit, so to console her I pulled her onto my lap and let her drop some pennies into the pond.

We made a very quick pass through the Canadian Wilds sector on our way out of the Zoo, just to see if we could show Hope a bear and a moose, which particular animals were big enough to be easily spotted in their domains, so she got to see them after all. :o)