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It’s day 2 of the 5 day-post-a-pic-and-tell-a-story-about-it challenge. I have chosen to organize these 5 days around the theme of “what love looks like.”
It’s quarter break here in the cornfields, so there was a half day of school today. I took my monkey and part of her troop to the zoo for the afternoon. The weather was perfect, and the crowds weren’t overwhelming.
Fun fact: Omaha has one of the best zoos in the country.
I don’t think I had been to the zoo since my girls were in grade school. And, today was the first time I wasn’t with a gaggle of other moms, pushing a stroller, or carrying jackets, water bottles, sunscreen, and lunch bags. The kids went their way, and I went mine, with full freedom to stand and watch the otters, or the new baby giraffe, or the actual monkeys for as long as I wanted.
As a photographer, it was an ideal situation. Nobody was standing and waiting for me, so I could take time to adjust settings and compose my shots. (and laugh at the ape who kept taunting another monkey by shaking the branch he was on)
As a mom, it was more proof of the reality that the days of taking kids to the zoo are coming to an end soon. Sarah will be 16 next year, and they will be driving themselves. We have had lots of fun on all of our zoo trips. I’m thankful for years of such great memories.
So tonight, I will say a prayer of gratitude for all of the wonderful zoo memories with the kids. But also, I will thank God that it was such a nice surprise to get to walk around alone with my camera. I look forward to more days like today.
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My son will love these as do I. He adopted some monkeys from monkey world last summer. Great you went out for a trip. I find the photos I take are always observed by glass or bars you didn’t seem to have this? X
No glass or bars. Omaha has an indoor jungle. It’s a huge building, completely full of plants and animals. We walk on a sort of a catwalk through the second level of the jungle (you can go down to the ground floor too) and we can observe the animals in more of a “natural” habitat. The walkways are farther than they look from the monkeys, (i had a big zoom on) and most are separated by a sort of river that runs through the building, so there is no contact with the monkeys. My daughter and her friends did get chased by bats though! For real!
That’s really cool your son has a heart for helping animals!
omg wow chased by bats haha, what a trip, that place sounds amazing though i would much rather have that type of experience than looking through glass or bars, fab photos, ones to treasure x
thank you 🙂
Love this series! Precious photo captures of these monkeys. 🙂
thank you!
So glad you got to monkey around with your new lens! You got some great shots of those exotic creatures! 🙂
Wow! Such awesome faces you were able to capture. The all look so serious!
These are beautiful and I don’t much like monkeys!
Thank you.