Butterflies, Birds, and Elephants

We took the kids to the zoo earlier this month, and we made sure to go see the butterfly exhibit. It's one of our favorites each year when it opens. I think both Ryan and Abby appreciated it much more this year since we had just hatched our own butterflies at home. We also watched the bird show, the same bird show they have had for years and years that they change the name of each year to trick us into watching it yet again. Actually, it's got some neat things in the show, and Daddy and Ryan even got to be part of the act this time. Unfortunately, part of them being in the show included them bringing a camera to the stage, so I didn't get a picture of it.


We also saw something we had never seen before in all our trips to our zoo. One of the elephants painted a picture. It was quite unusual to watch. They squirted paint (I'm assuming nontoxic) into his trunk and he would blow it out onto the canvas. Then they gave him a brush and he smeared it around, and lastly they let him "fingerpaint" with his trunk. They sometimes give the paintings as gifts to the trainers on special occasions, and apparently they even sell them in the gift shop for about $500! I'm not sure it's art, but it has a certain appeal, don't you think?