Field Trip and Dress Shopping

This Wednesday, I took the day off from work so that I could go with the girl on her field trip. I was in charge of 4 2nd graders (including my daughter). 2 boys and 2 girls. I had trouble getting the boys to stay with me and the girls with their drama. I'll bet that's hard to imagine.

They were really great, though. I enjoyed every minute of it. We went to a wildlife park just outside of town. They have animals that are native to the area, and the animals actually live in their natural habitat. The buffalo have a large roaming area, as do the elk and the wolves. They roam and you aren't guaranteed to see them, but the walkways around their enclosures help the opportunity. But this allows the animals to roam freely, similar to the wild. Unlike the zoo.

We got to see cougars, gray wolves, red foxes, elk, buffalo, a crane, owls, falcons, 2 bald eagles, an otter, coyotes, and a petting zoo with a jersey cattle, goats, sheep, etc... It was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time running around on the trails trying to see what animals we were able to catch sight of.

After we ate lunch with the rest of the class, we visited the reptile house and got to see an animal program with one of the park worker's showcasing a few neat animals. My group was dedicated to being in the first row, so we showed up early and waited for the rest of our class to get their. They made it! They also got to sit about 5 feet from this big guy.

He's a turkey vulture. And most of the time, he sat their with his wings outspread. It's probably a defense technique, to appear larger.

This is a peregrine falcon. The fastest animal in the world. Yes, I thought it was the cheetah, but apparently the cheetah is the fasted land animal. This bird flies 200 mph.Wow!

This is a Barred Owl, super cool. His neck swivels 75% of the way around. I didn't know that they couldn't move their eyes in their head. That's the reason for the extreme range, plus double the amount of bones in their necks.

My daughter on the bronze statue in front of the visitor's center. Yes, they're fine with climbing on the statues. They have a large bronze frog in the sandpit for the kids to play and jump off.

 Just a nice photo of our last hiking excursion. Some of the places we get to when we hike are far off the grid. It just amazes me sometimes the things we get to see, the plants thick and wildflowers all around. It's beautiful.

This week, my daughter was invited to my cousin's wedding as the flower girl! Her wedding isn't until August, but I'm so excited we are able to go and I"m so happy for her! We only have 2 cousins from my mom's side and they're both wonderful people, that my sister and I were lucky to be close to. Her and her brother were actually the flower girl and ring bearer in my sister's wedding many years ago. Many, many years ago. (love ya, sis!)

So, last night, the girl and I went dress shopping! My cousing said that the bridesmaids are wearing fuscia, so to find a dress that's white with fuscia trim or sash. These two were my daughter's favorites from the two stores we visited.

My daughter liked second one the best, but have to order it with the fuscia trim. Luckily, we will be able to get it in time for the wedding. I was able to photo text my cousin during the trip and she liked them both, but liked the second one better. Lucky girls! So, they both got their first pick and this one also happened to be the cheapest! So, we all win!

She really had a great experience. She got to try on all sorts of fancy dresses and preen in front of the mirrors. It was a banner day for her. :)