Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The Ark
We appear to be collecting lots of photos of the kids with animals. Fionna commented ruefully the other day that she "don't have a kittie...". It's still being a bit tough explaining that one to her, considering that:
A) She's allergic
B) Mom's allergic
C) Mom had a kittie
D) Mom and dad LIKE kitties
E) Her friend Emmy has two dogs, horses, kitties, chickens, turkeys and a farm. And a fish.
Our solution is to dose her up with antihistamines and expose her to lots of animals, and then hose her down afterwards.
We started off safe, with stuffie animals. Here's her Little Bo Peep costume.
Next, we moved on to reptiles. No allergies to reptiles. This turtle was wandering across the road near our mailbox.
Fionna named him Tuck, as expected.
The turtle didn't provoke any allergies, but it did pee on the floor mat of dad's car on its way back to the swamp, so we went back to fully artificial animals. Here we are at the Toronto Zoo, where a bronze orangutan experiences what it's like to have a Fionna on his back.
Peacocks. Beautiful, cocky, surprisingly noisy, and not so much loving the rocket popsicles.
We woke up one morning to find a banded pigeon on our deck. He hung around for way too long, presumably because of all the free food from the toddlers and the birdfeeders. Eventually, we tried to trap it in a box to no avail; buddy seemed pretty tame but also pretty savvy about boxes. What finally worked was leaving the screen door open by mistake (hurray, Daddy!) and having buddy wander inside. We eventually caught him using the curtains in the master bedroom. Turns out, he's a racing pigeon from down south. We kept him for a couple of days while James figured out which website to contact about his numbers. Eventually, since nobody emailed back, dad had the bright idea to take him to the hospital and release him there, a few kilometers away from our house.
As it turns out, racing pigeons can home in to more than just their original roost. James did his rounds at the hospital and then got a cell phone call from Sheryl that the pigeon was safe and sound...back on our deck.
He didn't leave until after we went on vacation.
Abby at the Cunningham farm, trying to terrorize the poultry.
Fionna at the Cunningham farm, successfully terrorizing the poultry.
The difference between the Toronto Zoo and Marineland is that in Marineland, there are fewer animals but more chances to touch them. Which is a pretty important difference, if you ask a three-year old. I have weird retro memories of the deer stockade; our family has photos that look pretty much exactly like these, but they were taken in the early 80s. And printed on jigsaw puzzles, which was a big deal back then.
Incidentally, I have no idea what black bears, deer, elk and bison have to do with MARINEland. Well, I suppose the bears were mostly sitting in a pond to cool off...
A) She's allergic
B) Mom's allergic
C) Mom had a kittie
D) Mom and dad LIKE kitties
E) Her friend Emmy has two dogs, horses, kitties, chickens, turkeys and a farm. And a fish.
Our solution is to dose her up with antihistamines and expose her to lots of animals, and then hose her down afterwards.
We started off safe, with stuffie animals. Here's her Little Bo Peep costume.
Next, we moved on to reptiles. No allergies to reptiles. This turtle was wandering across the road near our mailbox.
Fionna named him Tuck, as expected.
The turtle didn't provoke any allergies, but it did pee on the floor mat of dad's car on its way back to the swamp, so we went back to fully artificial animals. Here we are at the Toronto Zoo, where a bronze orangutan experiences what it's like to have a Fionna on his back.
Peacocks. Beautiful, cocky, surprisingly noisy, and not so much loving the rocket popsicles.
We woke up one morning to find a banded pigeon on our deck. He hung around for way too long, presumably because of all the free food from the toddlers and the birdfeeders. Eventually, we tried to trap it in a box to no avail; buddy seemed pretty tame but also pretty savvy about boxes. What finally worked was leaving the screen door open by mistake (hurray, Daddy!) and having buddy wander inside. We eventually caught him using the curtains in the master bedroom. Turns out, he's a racing pigeon from down south. We kept him for a couple of days while James figured out which website to contact about his numbers. Eventually, since nobody emailed back, dad had the bright idea to take him to the hospital and release him there, a few kilometers away from our house.As it turns out, racing pigeons can home in to more than just their original roost. James did his rounds at the hospital and then got a cell phone call from Sheryl that the pigeon was safe and sound...back on our deck.
He didn't leave until after we went on vacation.
Abby at the Cunningham farm, trying to terrorize the poultry.
Fionna at the Cunningham farm, successfully terrorizing the poultry.
The difference between the Toronto Zoo and Marineland is that in Marineland, there are fewer animals but more chances to touch them. Which is a pretty important difference, if you ask a three-year old. I have weird retro memories of the deer stockade; our family has photos that look pretty much exactly like these, but they were taken in the early 80s. And printed on jigsaw puzzles, which was a big deal back then.
Incidentally, I have no idea what black bears, deer, elk and bison have to do with MARINEland. Well, I suppose the bears were mostly sitting in a pond to cool off...// posted by Unknown @ 6:25 AM 
