Africa!

Today I took Gene and the kids on a tour of the new Africa! exhibit at the zoo. Once the animals begin to arrive in a couple weeks, no one will be allowed over there because it will be a quarantine area. I wanted to show Gene everything while it's still new and pristine. We had a lot of fun posing in the different animal areas. The new header photo is the kids on a bench in one of the lion stalls. We also checked out the giraffe barn as well as the indoor monkey and red river hog exhibits, the zebra stalls and the huge boardwalk surrounding the giraffe yard. It's a beautiful new area that everyone MUST come and see next spring :)

The newest addition to the existing zoo is two adorable young male takin (rhymes with rockin'.) They are basically giant goats, but are soooo cute. The older takin Patrick is nearly full grown but Burt is only 6 months old. He's a "dinky" little guy and stinking cute. Takin love to climb and like rocky areas. They're very strange and cool animals.

Monday, Roz and I leave for Indy to train with giraffes and rhinos for three days. We get to spend Monday night so we don't have to leave Peoria at 4am Tuesday. We called a former coworker who now lives in Indy and plan to meet up with her one of the nights we're there. I'm more excited about seeing and catching up with her than I am about the animal training :) The whole experience should be a good time. It is especially exciting that we'll be working with the giraffes that will be coming to our zoo!