Zooper Zoo Camp!

Nathan started his first summer camp at Woodland Park Zoo Zoopers today and after a bit of a rough start when dropping him off, he has decided he liked it. I will add more during the week but so far his favorite adventure of Day 1 was getting to visit the jaguar at some sort of top secret entrance not open to the public. :)

And Ali enjoyed hanging out in the trees like a monkey

DAY 2:

They visited Bug World today. Nathan informs me that he liked the spider the best but its like pulling teeth to get him to tell me anything beyond that. He made a friend named Ellis and seems to be enjoying himself a little more then the first day.

Day 3:

Today they visited giraffes and talked about mammals. Nathan came home with a play dough snake they made as a craft in class and his new buddy, Jackson played Star Wars with him and thus Im quite sure just became Nathan's favorite person lol  Nathan informs me that when I sign him up for a camp next summer it really needs to be a sports one.

Day 4:

Today they visited reptiles and amphibians and Nathan came home talking about the turtle and the aligator. We passed them having snack in the grass and they made yet another snake art project, this time a paper one to hang from the ceiling.  He still seems to be enjoying himself but I have to say I am definitely going to sign him up for summer camps closer to home next year. Tomorrow I told Ali if I have to cross the bridge to Seattle everyday for the week I get to feed the giraffes. Im sure she will freak out but I consoled her by saying she can stand at the back of the group while mommy does it really fast. We'll see how that goes. Today she took me on the carousel and was seriously disapointed that she couldnt ride it for the entire time we were at the zoo.

Day 5:

Today was Nathan's last day at camp and it was a bird theme. They visited the penguins and flamingos and brought all of their zoo camp journals and crafts home. Ali and I came early and did the giraffe feeding.

I have to say that it was very cool and I'm going to have to do it again when another adult is with me. The girl letting us in said the other zookeeper would take a picture of me with the giraffe if I wanted it. So after getting up there it turns out an elderly woman with very shaky hands and really long fake fingernails is the helper. She wasnt interested in taking pictures for people and when I gave her my phone to take a picture with she turned all my voice command settings instead. In the end I asked someone in the group if they could take a photo for me and it all turned out ok.

 Ali was very brave. I expected her to freak out which she kind of did initially but she eventually got close to the fence and only backed away if the giraffe came near. They also do an elephant feeding in the afternoon. I may have to go back sometime for that.

 Then we went looking for Nathan and failed to find him but stumbled onto the penguin feeding time. It was cool at first except I realized they dumped a bucket of live fish into the water and we were watching the poor fish get picked off lol. We moved on.... ;)

Then at the end of it all I actually saw his group headed back to their classroom and Nathan was laughing and skipping along having a jolly old time.

 So happy to see him enjoying the summer camp. Overall, the staff was excellent with the kids and did a really good job of interacting with the parents. Nathan has happy memories of his first summer camp and wont give me any grief about doing one or two next year because he knows how much fun they are. :) 

PS zoo camp apparently ruins sandals...