Lions and Tigers and Pre-Schoolers, Oh My!

Horsecrazy and Batman’s Pre-school class had a field trip recently to the Boise Zoo.  I love to go to the zoo, so I eagerly signed up to go along as a mommy helper for the day. 

Actually, truth be told, I love to go on any field trip, so I sign up wherever they go.

We loaded up our 13 wildly excited and identically dressed kids for the 30 minute drive to the zoo.  All the way they chattered happily about what their favorite exhibits were and described in great detail what they wanted to see.

Once we got there Miss Torrie went over the rules of the day:  Stay with your partner; listen to the teacher; no running away on your own.

The first attraction was the giant giraffe slide.  We had a hard time getting the kids away from that to go see some actual exhibits.

I didn’t fully appreciate the stroke of genius that Miss Torrie employs in the putting the kids in matching yellow t-shirts with the Pre-school logo on the front until I was in charge of trying to help keep track of all of them in an area bustling with other kids.

Our first group photo opportunity was outside the tiger exhibit.  It was pretty hard to get all the kids corralled for the shot.  This is my best out of five attempts.

From there we went along to several other exhibits.  Batman held my hand most of the time, but not Annabelle.  She only wanted to be with Miss Jamie.

Batman’s favorite exhibit was the Komodo Dragon.  He probably stood and looked at that ugly thing for at least fifteen minutes, until I had to drag him away to move on.

She never really said, but I think that Annabelle liked the goats best.  She petted and played with them, and competed hard for the pellets that Miss Torrie bought from the goat-food-vending-machine to feed her friends.  In fact, I think it is possible that Miss Torrie bought the pellets to keep Annabelle from feeding her nametag to the goats.

Throughout most of the day Batman could be found pretty close to his best friend from school. The like to look at the same things and share the same goofy sense of humor.

The birds were a big draw for the kids to look at.  The girls screamed and ran when the vulture flapped his wings and towered over them.  I think they thought they might be lunch!

There were several great places to get the kids to sit down for photos.  I loved this clam shell shot.

And riding the camel was cute too.

My what big ears you have!!!

Of course Batman wanted to document his new love affair with the Dragon.

One of the most exciting moments of our whole trip occurred after we viewed the penguins.  Unbeknownst to us, it was “Penguin Day” at the zoo, and a TV anchor from Channel 6 was on hand to interview some kids who visited the honored guests.

Neither of my kids wanted anything to do with getting a microphone and talking on air.

But in a funny twist if events, it ended up being Batman who was shown on the evening news, though he never made a peep.

We saw lions.

And big noisy birds.

And one of the kids’ favorite animals, the hyena.

Going through the Africa exhibit reminded me of my travels in that great (and scary) country.  None of the kids were very impressed by the stories I wanted to tell, but I didn’t mind.  I knew.

Miss Jamie and Annabelle posed by the African well. Aren’t they so photogenic?

After all that walking around everyone was hot and sweaty.  They ran through the elephant sprayer for awhile.

One of the little boys got tired of wearing his hat and gave it to Miss Torrie.  Doesn’t she look fabulous as Spiderman?

After a couple of hours everyone was really hungry and ready for lunch.  They trailed on back toward the park like a line of little yellow ducklings.

Then took off at a dead run for the picnic area.  Kids just never get tired.

Miss Torrie and Miss Jamie brought over the cooler with everyone’s lunch inside.

And we all sat down for sandwiches and chips.  It tasted so good after walking around all morning.

My favorite picture of the day was this one..  I think it is perfectly symbolic of the great care that Miss Jamie and Miss Torrie take of all of our little birds. 

Thanks for being such great teachers, ladies!