Birds, Elephants, and Camels, Oh My!

The kids have had a few exciting weekends lately.  Three weeks ago, the Wild Bird Sanctuary was featuring eagles from around the world.  The kids enjoyed looking at all different species of birds and getting their picture taken with a LIVE bald eagle.

They got to have their faces painted, of course they had to pick a bird.

Ella picked an owl.

Ava picked an eagle (kind of a mix between penguin and eagle, in my opinion).

And Gavin picked a cardinal, I'm not sure his person should have been assigned to the 'face painting' table?

We then moved on to the arts and crafts table, where the kids got to make eagle masks.  Ella sat this activity out since masks never work very well with glasses.

My three Dodo birds...

Ava got to try out the gloves they use to handle the birds..

and Gavin got to try out the blanket they where when they go into the cages to feed the birds.  They apparently have to stay camouflaged so the birds don't get too excited.

Ella and her bird...

The California Condor is a very big bird!!

A couple random photos of us killing time before the big bird show.

Finally, it was time for the much anticipated main event, the eagle show.  I wish I could say we were blown away by the amazing show, but it was actually about 10 minutes of them talking about a couple eagles that flew back and forth a few times.  I was expecting a bit more, but the kids seemed satisfied.  The show ended with a raven taking donations for the bird sanctuary. We let each of the kids hand the raven a dollar.

Gavin thought he was suppose to put the dollar in the box, and was lucky the raven didn't pluck one of his fingers!

We saw many birds and everyone had their favorites.  Mine was this miniature owl.  This one is full grown, and to get some perspective, that is a dog food bowl behind him.  I am NOT a bird person, but he was pretty cute.  I think the kids had fun, they were excited to be doing something new and different.  

After the bird show we could hardly go back to hanging around the house the following weekend.  We were on the hunt for what to do next and Uncle Brad gave us a great idea...the circus!

(Ava came too, but apparently she has developed a terrifying fear of clowns)

Sadly, this was the last year for the Shriner's Circus.  I wasn't completely sold on going to the late Sunday night show, but it was the last show and possibly their last circus.  Plus, Fiona was super excited to be at the circus with her cousins!  Poor Penny would have been there too, but she wasn't feeling well.  We also had Ava's friend Hazel there with us.

Elephant rides...

Camel rides, because who doesn't have "riding a camel" on their bucket list?

Never have I ever...touched a snake.  And I never will!  Hazel and I kept our distance, but these three thought this was awesome!  

Face painting!

Gavin was excited to put on his ninja turtle pj's when we got home, so he could "look just like Leonardo".  Poor kid had a greenish hue to his face for 2 days.

Good looking tiger, but she wanted it washed off 2 minutes after I took this picture.

"It's too itchy, Mom"

A more interesting looking tiger, not sure what to think, but she loved it, as I knew she would.

Fiona, G-ma F, Aunt Erin, and Uncle Brad had the VIP seats by the floor, while the rest of us were up in the nosebleeds.  

However, after intermission, Fiona decided she didn't want to watch the circus unless she could be with her cousins.  They all LOVED the show.  They thought the tigers and bears were so neat.  And the trampoline and motor cross shows were "awesome"!

It was a very late night, that we paid dearly for the next day or so, but we definitely made some memories!  Now maybe we'll go back to just hanging out around the house?  Yeah right!