Snake Farm Zoo

Last weekend we took a trip to New Braunfels to visit the Snake Farm Zoo. According to their website, it is now called Animal World & Snake Farm. I have driven past the Snake Farm many times and never stopped in. I thought they only had snakes and reptiles. I was completely surprised by the variety of animals in this zoo.

 

They did have an extensive collections of snakes and reptiles, including at least one each of the Top 10 most dangerous snakes in the world. The poisonous snakes were tightly secured in their cages. We were able to get up close and personal with Hercules, the giant white python. I have decided that I am not really a fan of snakes.

Boogs favorite animals to watch were the Prairie Dogs. They were extremely active and adorable. I think we watched them for at least half an hour.

My favorite animals to observe were the hyenas. Wow, are they swift. They can change direction in a split second while running full speed. They have one of the most powerful jaw pressure bites in the animal kingdom. Daddy said he liked the hyenas, too.

 

There were lots of other animals to see - camels, turkeys, Patagonian Cavy, and lions. The Cavy look kind of like overgrown rabbits but they are actually rodents closely relate to the guinea pig.

The petting zoo area was fun. Boogs and Daddy fed pigs, goats, a duck, and even a llama. One of the goats ripped the paper feed bag out of Boogs hand and ate it before Boogs could retrieve it.

Boogs really enjoyed watching the five otters play in the water, under the small waterfall, and on the rocks. He thought this Fennec Fox looked a lot like Skippy Jon Jones.

The zoo brings out different animals throughout the day for visitors to see up close. The little piglet was cute and the little tortoises were surprisingly fast.

We had a great visit at this small zoo. It was clean, well kept, and the staff was helpful and informative.

It was a hot day so we stopped at Buc-ee's for cold drinks on the way home. Buc-ee's is a 67,000 square foot convenience store. They have 60 gas pumps and a huge variety of items for sale including food, hunting & camping equipment, clothing, books, barbeque pits, swim/tubing supplies, and tons of other stuff. It was our first time to stop into Buc-ee's. I think I may have to go back and purchase the All American Car-I-Oke sing-along CD and song booklet for our upcoming 3200 mile camping/road trip. That should make the car ride a bit more interesting. Of course, we had to take a picture of Buc-ee the Beaver before we left.

Summer So Far

School ended on June 6th. We are enjoying our long days of summer. Here is a comparison of Boogs on his first and last days of 2nd grade. He has changed so much this year.

We have had plenty of time to relax and also plenty of time to play.

Hanging out with friends

Riding scooters with Dad at the skate park

Family time

Playing outside

Going to the movies

Chasing down the ice cream truck at the park

Exploring new playscapes

Crafting with stuff in the recycle bin

Filling water balloons for the swim team pep rally

 

Water balloon fight at pep rally

Lots of time in the pool

Swim team meets every Saturday and swim practice Monday - Friday

 

Keeping busy at home with blindfold drawing contests

 

Making masks

Daily "morning work" so our school skills stay sharp

So far, summer has been fun. Boogs stayed with my parents and a couple of his cousins this week. I can't wait to pick him up and hear about the fun he had during his visit.

Swim Team

Boogs' summer swim team has been in session for a month. That means he swims six days a week. It is hard to believe a month of swim team and three meets have already occurred. Here is a picture from swim evaluation day on May 8th, his first jump into the outdoor pool this season. His expression shows how cold the water was. Luckily, the water has warmed up since then.

 

His dive off the blocks has greatly improved this year. He used to just run off the block.

Waking up at 5:00 a.m. every Saturday for swim meets is not a lot of fun. But, I am happy to do it as long as Boogs is enjoying swim team.

Last Lunches of 2nd Grade

The end of the school year is coming up fast!  It has been harder to get up in the mornings. Lately, I have been giving myself about 25 minutes to shower, make/serve breakfast, fix our lunches, get everything together, and run out the door. Which means I have mostly been throwing food in a lunchbox instead of making story themed lunches. Here are some of my recent lunch offerings for Boogs. Today is Boogs last day to take lunch in 2nd grade. They have early release for their last day of school on Friday.

I told Boogs this was a tooth lunch. Really, that is just the way the bread came out of the bag.

In the ELB lunchbox: pb&j "tooth" sandwich, Veggie Straws, Babybel cheese, salad, and berries.


Saber lunch - I told Boogs those picks were light sabers and that this lunch is a Star Wars lunch.

In the ELB: salami & cheese light sabers, Sarlacc carrots with hummus, red-skied planet plums, Tatooine habitat of dried apricots & raisins, yogurt covered pretzels, and crackers.


Just a lunch

In the Laptop Lunchbox: Zbar, Babybel cheese, YoKids yogurt, salad, Veggie Straws, dried apricots, and ham.


The Everything Kids' Mazes Book by Beth L. Blair

Boogs really likes to solve mazes. He received this book for his birthday. This book has mazes for a variety of skill levels. There are short informative "stories" to go with each maze. Boogs told me the maze on his sandwich was too easy to be called a maze. I was going to draw the little knight on a horse next to the maze, but I ran out of time.

In the Laptop Lunchbox: maze drawn on cheese on top of almond butter & jelly sandwich, radish letters MAZE, celery with cream cheese, mango, and snack bar.

 Scooby-Doo Space Fright! by DC Comics

Boogs has been reading comic and cartoon books non-stop. His favorite is still Calvin & Hobbes followed closely by Garfield. Every once in a while he will grab a Scooby Doo book. In this book, Scooby and the gang solve the mystery of the sighting of an alien spaceship.

In the ELB lunchbox: Babybel alien ship with cheese laser beam, pb&j Scooby Doo hiding behind Zbar & pistachio tree, salad, and pears.


Tropical lunch

Summer is coming! This tropical lunch has almond butter & jelly sandwiches (cut out with the Funbites tool) on parrot, flower, and swirl picks, canopy green bean chips, sunshine bright mac&cheese, mango, and salad.

In the ELB lunchbox: Goldfish crackers, salami, yogurt pretzels, veggie chips, yogurt tube, plum slices, and salad.

In the ELB lunchbox: carrots with hummus, blueberries, ham, granola bar, raisins, green bean chips, and cheesestick.

Last Day Blues by Julie Danneberg

During the first week of 2nd grade, Boogs took a lunch based on First Day Jitters by the same author. This book shows the same teacher at the end of the year. As the school year is wrapping up, Mrs. Hartwell's class is eager for summer vacation to begin. Then they start thinking about much Mrs. Hartwell will miss them and how sad, lonely and bored she will be during the summer. They imagine their teacher sitting around reading old lesson plans while trying to remember the fun times she had with the class. They decide to make Mrs. Hartwell a going away gift. In reality, Mrs. Hartwell is just as happy as the children for summer vacation to arrive.

In the lunchbox: pb&j desk sandwiches, dried apricot chairs, cheese letters, pb&j Mrs. Hartwell, pistachios, Goldfish crackers for the fish in the pond, kiwi for the green grass of summer, blueberries for the clear blue sky, salad with radish, carrot, and red pepper hearts.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar!  If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.