Zoo & Swing

Hey everybody!

So today was another doozy of a day. :)
I woke up at 6:30 (early for me) to get ready for a daytrip to the Oregon Zoo in Portland -- my first time, Ella's second -- with the lovely Clara and family.

We packed a picnic lunch and carpooled there so it was already starting off to be an eco-friendly trip, yay! ;D

Clara's papa knows how to get goofy with the kiddos~!

I gotta say I was muy impressed with the Oregon Zoo!
Beautiful layout, and what looked to be pretty comfortable habitats for the animals. I always feel so torn at zoos. On one hand, they are a "safe haven" for endangered species...but those species are only endangered because we are messing up their original homes so bad, so instead of stopping/fixing that...we recreate an artificial habitat for them miles away from their homestead? Also, they are presumably comfortable because they don't have to worry about predators or injury and their food comes to them on a platter...but that's like if we said a person would be comfortable living stuck in a hotel just because they get room service for the rest of their life...
So yeah, I tried to have a positive mindset this time around, and I must say the zoo seemed to be pretty candid about the reality of these animals' plight with the numerous placards and such describing efforts to restore natural habitat populations and whatnot.

Gah! Enough philosophizing about zoo systems, and on to the animals, right??

Cheetahs have such huge round eyes... I never knew!

William was pretty adventurous and intent on walking everywhere himself, so this is what he looked like most of the time:

He looks like a literal "egg-head" here @_@

And Clara's Papa was such a trooper to always help out whether it was holding Ella by the hand, pushing the empty stroller, or even carrying William!

Thanks for the lift!

We picnicked in this outdoor theatre-type space they had and that was just lovely lovely; so was the train ride that circled around to the Portland Rose Gardens -- I will have to remember that for my mom's upcoming visit!

I quasi-lost Ella at one point, too, but that was resolved quickly and Ella didn't even notice. Ha!
Besides that, it was a hiccup-free adventure and a wonderful day all thanks to the generosity of Clara, Matt, Rachel, and li'l Henry -- thanks, you guys!!

We'll be BACK again soon! (pun~)

 
It was about 5:00 by the time we got home, and while William snoozed Ella and I randomly thought to build a swing in the backyard! Man, we are sharing some pretty creative wavelengths these days, amiright?

Simple, simple

I procured the rope from some leftover supplies I'd used for that stool cushion I made a couple of years back. The seat was some kind of composite wood board that came with the house when we bought it. All I did was cut it to length and drill four holes in the corners, through which I threaded the rope and tied a fat knot on the underside.

Here it is in action~

Ella loves it, William's a little scared but still curious, and I'm so proud of myself for working the saw, the manual drill, and power drill all by myself! :)
Tomorrow we will paint her name on the seat.

A kid's best friend~

Until next time, take care and Happy Zoos and Swings!!