Getting Our Money's Worth

On Friday we dropped Ellis off at school and then I came back and got Granita so we could go back to the zoo. Actually - I guess we puttered around for a while first as we didn't make it till the zoo till about 11 (our new get out of the house time)
She had bought a Friend of the Sanctuary pass (it made sense if you go 2 times). This was our third visit. We had timed it to see the Wombat talk (which we missed - but it was just a zoo person talking to whoever showed up about the Wombat). Wombats are cute - but they apparently bite and are kinda nasty.

We did make the platypus talk - they are a lot smaller than I thought. Whenever you see a picture in a book, they look bigger - I thought seal sized. They are maybe about a foot long. I couldn't get a good picture as they are nocturnal so the zoo keeps the exhibit dark during the day so you can seem them. They are also venomous - they have spikes on their hind feet. It's apparently extremely painful to get swiped by one and the venom can kill a small dog.

Rowan amazingly let me hold him for almost the entire presentation but then wanted to be released so we followed him via the birds back to the koalas and the kangaroos. He won't feed them yet, but seems to like watching other people feed them. I worry that he will pick up kangaroo poo (that is everywhere) and try to eat it or think it is a ba but so far so good. Afterward we hit the gift shop (our other reason for going) so Granita could spend the last of her money and spoil the kids a bit more.

We lazed about the rest of the afternoon - oh, except Granita. She had a production line going. While she was here she started making things out of paper for Ellis. Do you remember those things we used to make as kids? Those paper fortune tellers? Well - it started out as that one day and then she progressed to the paper balls. She couldn't remember exactly how to make one so I looked it up on Youtube. Next thing you know, she has progressed to very fancy paper balls. Ellis took a shot of one of them (see above). Granita is way more accommodating than his mum. He would request more and she would make them. After Granita left, he took out his stash and lined them up with some marbles and put them to sleep behind the couch. The next morning he went to get them up and low and his silly mummy had put away their blanket (what was I thinking?) I do believe they would have lived behind the couch forever except Rowan found them and Ellis had to rescue them.

I've added some more art shots by Ellis of his favourite pastime - Reading Eggs.