La Vida Loca De Flores

Yesterday Jett, Kolt, and I went to the Living Desert for a field trip with Jett's 2nd Grade class. Although I have been there many times, I always look forward to this school field trip. It's always a lot of fun, and there is almost always something new to see there. This year, we visited the "North American" side of the park and had a docent as a tour guide. I really enjoyed this, because I haven't even seen that side of the park for so many years. The kids usually vote to go the "African" side with the giraffes and zebras, so it was fun to visit the cougar, coyotes, and Bighorn sheep this time around and it was nice to have someone knowledgeable to explain things to the kids and keep them interested in everything.

Our docent started us out learning about the plants of the desert. We got to see a HUGE cactus and lots of little ones (nothing too new there!). She told us about sage and how the Indians used to rub it on themselves as a "scent camoflage" so animals couldn't smell their human scent (which in those days was probably pretty significant!). We also got to see a replica of a home used by the Indians of the desert and go inside. It was pretty shady and cool inside. Then she showed us the way the Indians would build little fences around their gardens to keep animals out, just like we would do.

Next, we learned about raptors (eagles, falcons, and owls), and then we saw the red-tailed falcons and the eagle. Kolt really loved the little burrow owls and would giggle whenever they would "look" at him!

Then, we went through the reptile building which was a big hit with the kids as always, with the brightly colored frogs and creepy looking snakes! The cougar and the coyotes were out and about since it was a really beautiful morning out. Kolt was really excited to see the coyotes and was very happy to see there was one ("The mommy one") in the den up against the glass.


We took a VERY quick detour at the trains on our way to the animal show, where we saw rats (eww!), an opossum, a porcupine, and a really big kitty that could jump very high (I guess I haven't been on this field trip often enough! I still can't remember the names of things!).

After the animal show, it was off to long-awaited lunch and play time at Gecko Gulch! I think this was probably the favorite part of the day for the kids.

Kolt really enjoyed playing in the "Dirt Kitchen" and climbing on the HUGE spider web, and Jett had to climb anything and everything possible, as usual!