Trip to the Shanghai Zoo

The last day of school was the 24th of June. We were all excited for that last day to come. It was funny, the first few days the kids didn't want to do anything. The weather wasn't all that great but it wasn't bad. By Thursday, I said we were going to the zoo. It's only 20 minutes away by car. It was overcast and humid but a good weather day to go.

One of the first exhibits we came to was this stuffed giraffe. We were a bit worried that we might see stuffed real animals instead of alive and kicking ones.
The grounds at the zoo is very pretty. Lots of greenery and open like park areas.

Every once in a while, we see some birds like this drinking water from the streams in our development. They get spooked quite easily and then there is a big white bird flying thru the air.

I thought this was clever.

We were surprised to see porcupines.

Kate wanted a picture touching one.

We decided to hit the pet area. It was a bit hard to see. There had to have been at least 30+ different breeds of dogs in kennels. 2 dogs in each kennel. The area and kennels were not very nice looking. It was hot but the dogs looked lifeless. I can't say they were malnourished. It was just very different to see at a zoo.

The big attraction that the kids were anxious to see were the pandas. They were hot too.

I liked this picture of the lions. We decided our dog Maggie is part cat. She likes laying on her back like this lioness. In fact, she fell off the bed the day before because she was rolling over into this position and did not realize how close to the edge of the bed she was.

This bear was performing for food.

There are signs everywhere that say"don't feed the animals". However, that doesn't stop the locals. I have to say that was the most annoying thing.

They had quite a few giraffes. They weren't big but looked better than that stuffed one!

It's official, Devin is part Gorilla.

Again, people feeding the monkeys.

Lucas is officially part monkey!

It was sad to see the other monkeys in the surrounding cages wanting food too!

Some got very aggressive and started fighting over the food. They made horrible noises and that just fueled the fire. People would just find anything they could to throw into them.

We made it thru the zoo in about 3 hours. It started to sprinkle as we were leaving. It was a fun morning and an inexpensive excursion - $5 per person. I have to mention real quick. There were quite a few concession stands thru out the park. If we were hungry - one of the more popular things to buy was soup bowls like the Ramen Noodles. I thought that was funny to see.

Devin turns "15"!!!

We can't believe it. We have a 15 year old! I like this picture. I gave him a haircut the day before and he looks like when he was 10. He wanted short hair for summer. I'm ready for it to be a bit longer again:)

I think he is wishing to get his driver's permit. Wait - we aren't in the states. He's going to have to wait 3 more years. Yay!!!!

He had his friends from school come over. Mazuki - parents from England and Japan. Zach is from Australia. Mazuki moved here in December and Zach in March. They are a really good bunch of kids.

However, they did get a bit rowdy playing video games. I had to go upstairs and tell them that if they woke the baby up, I was going to take her upstairs and they would have to babysit. I didn't hear them the rest of the night. Hee Hee