To Everything There is a Season: Trip to the Zoo

   We went to the Oregon Zoo as a family. On the way there, Mom asked us all what we wanted to see the most. Jamen said he wanted to see the lions, Damara said the elephants, Kenyon said the cheetahs, Dustin said the cougar, I said either the cheetah or the cougar, since I didn't know which, and Colten said the rhinoceros.
   Most of the time, when we go to the zoo, the animals all just sit there like lumps on a log, but not this time. The polar bears were actually moving around. There was two polar bears. I'll give them names so it will be easier to tell you about them. Instead of saying the first bear and the second bear I'll name them Hairy and Playtime. Hairy was being a boring bear just sitting on land. While Playtime was amusing himself with a five gallon barrel in the water. Suddenly, that boring bear, Hairy, got up from where he was sitting and bit Playtime on the back as if to say, "Hey, play with me." Playtime lunged at Hairy as a warning not to bother him and continued to play with his barrel. Dejected, Hairy walked off to where we couldn't see him. Of course I have no idea what Hairy and Playtime were really thinking, but why not add some color to my story?
   Did you know that lions only catch about 30 to 40 percent of the prey they chase? Yep, those big, powerful cats fail most of the time. When we went to see the lions the female lions came right up next to the glass. The male lion just sat at the top of the hill, like the lazy lion he is. Maybe he was playing king of the hill.

There was markers to show how far the lions, cheetahs, African wild dogs, caracals, and dwarf mongoose could jump from a standstill. Everyone, except for Mom and Evelyn jumped to compare their jump to the animals'. I couldn't even jump as far as a tiny little mongoose!

Here are some pictures:

Just getting started...

Dad and Jamen

Here we are at the Trillium Creek Family Farm. (Its in the zoo.) That tractor is stuck in the bark chips though you can't really tell in the picture. Us kids agreed to blame Dustin for getting it stuck.