We had never been to the Knoxville Zoo. It is a mixture of old cages and new lovely habitats. It appears to be a zoo in transition. The zoo was a nice size, not too small and not too big. It had all of the popular animals people go to zoos to see. My favorite are the giraffes. I don't really think of a place as a zoo if it doesn't have at least one giraffe. LOL! The giraffe exhibit was nice (but old and up against the highway), with three giraffes. My Father, a professional photographer, got a much better shot than I. However, here is my favorite shot from my photo taking.
My oldest son loves the elephants. One of the elephants loved him, too, and came right up for a photo shot.
We also saw bears, prairie dogs, rhinos, a variety of birds, red pandas, African wild dogs, and monkeys, to name a few. I do like being able to see the animals and that was easy to do at this zoo. Some zoos work so hard on making great habitats for the animals that the patrons can't see the animals. I think there needs to be a balance there. My kids will grow up wanting to help preserve the welfare of wild animals -- if they can see them and develop an affection for them.
The kids really liked the hands-on activities scattered around the zoo. There was a carousel, jeeps to crawl on, and lots of small activities to help you understand about the animals (such as how long is your arm span in comparison to a condor's wing).
It was a fun day overall! Here is proof that my father and I were both there behind our cameras! Like father, like daughter. LOL!
Blessings, Dawn
Great day at the zoo:) My husband's has family in Knoxville, we haven't been home to visit in years since we live in England. Thanks for sharing on the Home school field trip hop
ReplyDeleteLooks like a fun outing! We visited this zoo many years ago. :-) I love the photos of you and your Dad.
ReplyDeleteI answered your question on my blog, but wasn't sure if you would see it there, so here it is here too.
Dawn - I'm happy to share. I'm sorry things are so tough where you are! To start with, I just began praying about a homeschool group. I felt God leading me to start a group for Moms using FIAR. We were early in our journey and were loving this curriculum.
I mentioned this to a friend who was also using FIAR. She told me that she had been praying about it too - and that she was praying that God would lead me to start it. :-)
In finding people, I knew a few people who were using FIAR and then posted on the FIAR message board. Also, I used to work as a vendor at NCHE, so I spoke to many people about FIAR there and also shared the group with them. We also have a local email loop for homeschoolers and I have met people there too.
Do you have a local loop that you could use to help advertise or start a group? Do you have an idea of what type of group you would like to start?
This FIAR group has been such a blessing to my family! I would love for you to have a great group too! (((Dawn)))
Hope this helps.
Blessings
Leslie