Six Happy Clammers

This elephant was pacing the four cages, back and forth, back and forth. All the schoolkids were running every which way to try to see him in the cage he was in. William, Izzy and I chose to stand in one spot and wait for him to come back. William was enchanted with him, pointing at him and saying over and over, "eh laaaa?" which in Willie means, do you see that? At first, I thought, what a horrible life he has, just walking back and forth in the cages. A few minutes later, I heard a zoo lady telling someone else that actually the elephants are rotated between the cages and a natural habitat area. They actually are in the cage for a short time. It's just to give you a close-up view and to get an idea of how big they truly are. I felt a little better after that, and I did enjoy seeing Willie see his first elephant up close and personal.

This is Tai Shan, a panda born at the zoo just a couple weeks before Sean Patrick was born! He was most accomodating at the window. He played and ate, pooped and napped, and just an all around good watch. He stayed right next to the window so we could all see his antics. William and Izzy were literally a couple feet away most of the time, separated only by the heavy glass! Most impressive were his teeth, which made short work of that stick of bamboo. Most interesting was the pooping session, in which they are very tidy creatures. They go up to a rocky ledge, hang their bottoms over the ledge and go. They don't want that stuff anywhere near their living area. Izzy was fascinated by the yellow-green stuff, product of lots and lots of bamboo. OK, no more potty talk.

The multi-tasker in action. This momma knows exactly what it's like!

Sean Patrick describes the big construction trucks over at the soon-to-be elephant house. The kids watched those trucks forever, it seemed. They couldn't get enough. He's such a cutie. He got a haircut a day or two after this and he looked so handsome!