MFRC Zoo Trip July 29, 2013

 On Monday, July 29th we were invited to the Assiniboine Park Zoo for a newcomer event with the Winnipeg MFRC. I jumped at the chance, the girls and I both LOVE the zoo! We headed to the zoo at 930am to meet up with everyone before entering the zoo.

This is the map of the zoo. They have them at various locations throughout the zoo, as well as you get a small paper one to take with you. There was a lot going on when the photo of Brooke was taken, there was a little boy who was screaming and running (I have no idea what happened to him) and his parents were running after him trying to calm him down. Anyways, she's pointing to the wrong spot on the map. lol I know that some people wouldn't know it's the wrong one, but I do and for future reference, I wanna know she was wrong. lol







Chloe didn't like my coffee, lol, I had to get her to hold it while I took phots, as I need both hands for the camera. So she helped me out, but not without making some funny faces! lol This was still early in the adventure as I still had a Timmy's. It didn't last too long and there is no Timmy's in the zoo. lol

The butterfly conservatory is one of Brooke and Chloe's favourite places in the zoo. It's full of butterflies and flowers. Brooke had to stop and smell each different type of flower when we first went in. At this point in the day, we were heading to meet everyone for lunch, so we didn't have time to stop and smell the flowers. I think we could spend a whole day at the zoo just in the butterfly conservatory.




I loved seeing all the butterflies too, they are much easier to photograph then some of the other zoo animals! I had a lot of fighting with the fences (in my photos) but the conservatory is open so you can walk around with all the different beautiful butterflies.

Chloe and Brooke had a great time pointing out all the different butterflies they seen in there, and the different flowers and trees too.

Here is a sample of some of the different flowers and trees in the butterfly conservatory. It smells beautiful in there!

I caught these two beautiful butterflies and got some close ups of them. Brooke loved the purple one and the green one was having a snack of melon!


The lions...we seemed to have missed them the last time we went to the zoo. And they have a fantastic cage. They were loving the day, they even have an indoor enclosure that they can hang out in. They weren't very active when we were by, but I did happen to get some good ones of them.

Their enclosure has glass sections with no fencing, so I was able to get some great photos of them. They look so tame and beautiful! But they are HUGE! lol

This guy just wanted his photo taken. He kept moving his head and posing for the camera. Ok, so he likely wasn't really posing for the camera, but I'm gonna go with that. lol Brooke swears she hard the lions "say something" and Chloe would have waited there all day if I had let her, as she missed them "saying something" and she didn't want to leave until she heard them. I told her we'd make another trip and maybe she would hear them then. lol

Love must have been in the air this spring at the zoo, there were lots of babies out and about with their mommas and pappas. Here is a baby bison with a parent...Brooke thought it was his momma, so we'll go with that. She also thought it was funny that the momma was white and brown.

The Winnipeg zoo is home to a white buffalo, Blizzard. He's special because it's rare for white buffalo to be born in North America.

We happened upon a Meet and Greet at the Camel enclosure. This is Camille. The girls loved meeting her and petting her. Camille enjoyed giving Brooke cuddles and kisses. lol She thought it was funny, but Chloe didn't let Camille get that close to her, arms length was plenty close enough for her. lol

As I said, Love was in the air at the zoo this past spring. We came across a peacock family. The Mommy and her babies are in the left hand picture, and the daddy with his beautiful feathers up in the left. What beautiful animals they are! I'm so glad I had the right lens on at the right time to get the photo of the daddy!

Here is an Emu. This enclosure actually allows you to walk around with the animals. This is called the Australian Walkabout. It's great. Brooke said "that bird is really slow mommy" A member of the zoo staff happened to be close, and she said "actually, they can be quite fast up to 35 km/hr." This, of course, means little to Brooke. You can actually pet one of the Emu, if he will let you. His name is Fred and it's the most social of the group of 4. But he wouldn't stop long enough for the girls to pet him. Brooke and Chloe would have stayed there until they got to pet him, but we had to keep moving. Maybe on another trip they will get to pet Fred. lol

Also in the Australian Walkabout is Kangaroos. The Kangaroos won't come close to the people. They stay in their little part of the enclosure (just out of reach of the people). But I got some good photos of them with my bigger lens.




We got to see Flamingos, and these funny haired cranes (I can't remember their "real" name. lol

No zoo is complete without a least a couple of Monkeys! lol 

I was totally disappointed by the Penguin display. After seeing the penguins in the Biodome in Montreal, nothing will ever compare. These guys are travelling penguins, and will be moving on in September.
On the right, we have a Red Panda,not a very good shot of him, but on first walk by, he was hiding, then when we walked by a little bit later he was very actively wondering around. He wouldn't cooperate and stay still. lol

These are sea eagles. I just think they are so pretty...and maybe just a little scary looking. lol

I heard that the snow leopards are welcoming 2 cubs to their pack. They are cute (seen them on the news. lol). I really wasn't expecting to see any snow leopards in the enclosure when we came to it, but there was one sleepy one. The zebras were hiding, they weren't up where they normally are, they were down just on the other side of the cement wall, so if you weren't looking in the right area, you would miss them completely.

We missed the tigers on our last visit too. And I love tigers. The zoo here has 2 of them, and they were both pretty lazy when we walked past. I can't blame them it was a lazy kinda day.

Another milestone for Brooke! She was able to make it the whole way across the monkey bars using her arms without falling! She is growing up so fast, so quick on me! 

We stopped for a break, and had to get some mini donuts! Let's just say they were well received by the girls. Who doesn't love mini donuts?! (for the east coasters they are donut holes, like tim bits. lol) Or that is what they look like to me anyways.

This is a Prairie Dog, while they do not have a display at the zoo, they are EVERYWHERE at the zoo! lol We stopped to eat our donuts and these little guys where everywhere, just hoping we would drop something. 

Hudson, the Polar Bear. The zoo got him when he was just a baby, he was born in captivity at the Toronto Zoo. He is about 2 years old now (so really still just a baby) Needless to say, he is a main attraction of the zoo. The zoo is working on a new part, which will be called Journey to Churchill, which will include lots of scenery from the north. Churchill is the name of the town on the northern coast of Manitoba, you can only get there by plane or train (train takes like 3 days), you can't drive there. I've been wanting to go there since we got posted here, but we haven't made it there yet. This new display area looks like it will be AWESOME once they are done.

Here is 2 year old Hudson! He certainly doesn't look 2 to me! Last time we were there, they had just given him a new toy, so he was extremely active. Hudson, was last on our list of visits, so I think we ended up there at nap time. He was quite enjoying sunning himself and dozing off. lol

Brooke's riding a 2 wheeler!!!!

Tonight, we had our second BC visitors of the summer. Jeremy's Aunt Tara and Uncle Ralph and their son Jaxon. Jaxon is a year older the Brooke. The girls and Jaxon got along very well, it was so nice to listen to them playing in the back yard while we adults, sat in the living room and chatted away.

Tara got up to check on the kids as they were being unusually quiet. She came back in to say, you should come see this, Jaxon is pushing Brooke on her bike with no training wheels and as she bikes away he's saying "You're doing it!"

So we went out to watch, after watching my girl bike a bit without falling over right away I went and grabbed my camera and took this video. She is now totally addicted to biking without training wheels! Thanks Jaxon for showing her she could do it!

My worst day as a parent....

On day in Walmart in Brandon, when Jeremy was away in Hawaii and still posting photos of him on a beach (not working and I was totally jealous) at the checkout, Brooke and Chloe were climbing all over the cart. Seriously driving me insane, and frustrating me. I asked them 4 times to please sit still in the cart, they didn't listen, so I raised my voice and sternly said "I said sit still". This lady walked by and gave me a dirty look.
 I said "You don't need to look at me like that"
She said "Why not?"
I said "because it's none of your business"
She said "You don't yell at your kids in public"
I said "What?" (I was a little shocked and now totally pissed off)
She said "You don't yell at your kids in public"
 I said "and what do you think I should do?"
She said "Ask nicely"
I said "How many times do I ask nicely before I'm allowed to get frustrated?"
Her reply "You don't yell at your kids in public"

The lady ringing me in said, sometimes people need to keep their mouth shut and mind their own business. I wouldn't worry about what she said. It looks like you need a break take the kids to the park or something to blow off some steam. (My first thought was...yes...let's reward the bad behaviour by taking the kids to the park to play....ummm no we are going home and they are going to their room.) I said "thanks" paid and left...while I cried the whole way home and to my friend Erin's house. By far this was one of my worst days as a parent.

I was so pissed off, and I totally felt like a horrible parent and here I was doing it all on my own like a single parent only not. And this self righteous bitch is basically telling me I'm a horrible parent.

First off, my husband is away, training to defend/fight for our country, and you are making me feel like I don't deserve the right to breath. I'm adjusting to him being away, I'm trying to get over the jealousy that he's on a beach sipping beer and swimming with sharks and taking in the sites and history, while I stay at home and raise our children alone.

It's not that I don't think raising the children is and important and great job (most days) but if I had the choice, I would have loved to have been the one on the beach in Hawaii. lol Who wouldn't?! Heck, I'd take the kids with me! I'm not picky.

On this particular day, the kids ruined my day, and that lady made it worse. Thank heavens for good friends.

That is an example of how you never know what someone else is going through and why sometimes, it's best to keep your mouth shut. I never comment or give a dirty look to a woman who is stern with her children, even if she was to raise her voice, or threaten a spank....I always think to myself, she's having a rough day and I feel for her. I think the next time I hear someone going through that, I'm going to stop and say "you are a great mom, the day will get better, if not, tomorrow's a new one" Sometimes, we just need to give more support rather then beating someone when they are down.

Legislative Building In Winnipeg

I decided I wanted to go to the legislative building after Assiniboine Forest. By the time we got there, the lighting wasn't so good. But here are some of the shots I got with some editing!

I've been having fun playing with the editing on photobucket. lol