A family tradition since moving to Yuma has been our yearly trip to the Phoenix Zoo for the Arizona Jr. Duck Stamp Awards. Megan has entered each year and won prizes, although this year she admitted it was difficult to find the motivation to paint another duck--she has tried so hard to earn the Best of Show for the state. Nonetheless, she indulged her parents and quickly produced this lovely painting of a female mallard with ducklings:
Erin also participated for her first time and created an original view of a Canada Goose feeding.
Megan won a Second Place Prize for her entry:
[Side note: Megan was scheduled to take the ACT in Yuma this morning, but she was not too disappointed when we changed her test date to June after hearing about the duck stamp awards. A day at the zoo beats standardized testing anytime!]
Following the awards ceremony, Dallin directed us to his favorite Komodo Dragon exhibit. Sadly, both Komodo Dragons died the past year and a Chinese Alligator replaced them in the outdoor pen. There were some baby dragons being kept inside a building until they grow larger. We saw two of them through a glass window, and they were very cute! We took the token Komodo Dragon statue photo:
Human Interest Photo: Arlene's Bathroom
Behold, a Galapagos Tortoise!
Kevin and Erin went for a ride on paddleboats while the rest of the family looked at animals and played on animal statues at the African watering hole.
We were amazed at the vibrant colors of this King Vulture's head.
"Mom, this water looks like your breakfast drink!" the children told me. They have yet to learn to appreciate my green vegetable juice drinks. Guaranteed, my drinks taste better than this murky lake water.
We joined back together and continued on to the South American Forest.
Since Erin missed the African animal statues, she got her picture on a South American frog statue.
We watched the mother and yearling Spectacled Bears for a long time. The yearling nursed from its mom, then climbed around a bit, then nursed again. The fence prevented us from getting a really good photo of them. I would love to participate in one of the ongoing studies of these bears in Peru or Ecuador (Ian and I heard about some of them at the IBA meetings last September).
Megan and Dallin rode on the Carousel for their extra activity.
Rhinoceros face study
Sleeping Lioness
Resting Erin
Overfed Prairie Dog
And we'll spare you from the gazillion other animal photos we took.
Dallin's assessment was, "This zoo is AMAZING!"
We had a great family outing.
