Guess where I went?

I took a little trip this weekend, back to my hometown and your great-Aunt's..... and of course the hometown for you and your classmates.  But you know that Alec, because we spent sometime together at your great-Grandma's house.  It was a fun time!!!

While I was there I visited the Neil Armstrong Museum.  Here are some pictures

What a cool plane!

Above is the Navy uniform that Neil wore.

Did you know that before men went into space, animals went into space?

Here are some example of animals that went into space

Strelka (Russian)

Laika (Russian)

Sam  (American)

You can see more information about animals in space.

Back in the beginning of the space program the food looked like this:

Not very appetizing is it?

Food is a little better these days, including getting to drink Pepsi!!

This is a diagram of the Pepsi can

You can learn more about food in space here


In the entrance they have pictures of Ohio astronauts:

You can read about them (since the picture is not clear enough to read) at this link

That is it for today, I have more pictures to share from Wapak and then we go back to finish up the zoo!!

Look for more on my blog later this week.


Your friend,

Flat

A little break from zoo..... don't worry there will be more

Alec and friends,
We are going to take a little break from the zoo and go to downtown Indianapolis to see a few of the sights.

Indianapolis is the home of the NFL team the Colts, this is their "home" where the games are played

You can read the story behind "Lucas Oil" here

Here is an inside picture

Your Aunt went to a ball game there, the Green Bay Packers vs the Colts

The Packers lost that game, but your Aunt still enjoyed the game.

Another site downtown is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument

It was erected to honor Hoosiers (that is what people from Indiana are called) who were veterans of the  American Revolution


We took some pictures

 

 



 

 

 

During the holiday season they decorate the monument with thousands of lights to from a Christmas tree

 



It is very pretty and attracts thousands of visitors downtown.

I hope you enjoyed this little diversion from the zoo. 

I will be taking a little trip this weekend so I won't be blogging in the next few days.   Check back next week! 


Your friend

Flat

Dolphins!!

Alec and friends,

Next up are dolphins..... two facts about your great-Aunt that you did not know (I bet)....

On the list of her favorite movies is one about dolphins (sorta) the Incredible Mr. Limpet and..
on a trip to Mexico with friends, she swam with dolphins!

The Indianapolis Zoo has a daily show with the dolphins. 

Here is a picture of me and Chuck at the dolphin show

See the dolphin!!

Here is a video from the show

 

 

If you watch the trainers you will see them mimic what they want the dolphins to do and then of course reward the dolphins with fish!  It was a very fun show! 

For more about dolphins click here

I hope you enjoy the videos.


Later! 

Flat

Happy Friday!! More pictures from the zoo! Mammals!

Next up is something that is creepy, but thankfully they were asleep..... so here is a question.  What mammal (click on the word to see what they are) sleeps during the day?  Here is a hint:  A Superhero is named after this mammal.   Did you guess?   The mammal is

and of course the hero is Batman! 

Since I was there during the day, the bats were sleeping.  They sleep upside down

I think they are creepy........ and I am glad they were behind a window and in a cage.  I wonder what they do at night, just fly around their cage?   Maybe the zoo helpers put some bugs and other "tasty" items for them to eat.

Bats come in a variety of sizes here is a diagram of how big they can be

Here is a closer look

Did you see how big the Island Flying Fox can get?  42 inches!!

Check out this video about bats from National Geographic.  I will warn you, it may be a little creepy.


Another mammal is the bear

Here is the bear at the zoo

While we were there he became facinated with a rope that was in the tree.  A few of us stayed to watch him climb up the tree.

click above for the video

That is it for today!!   I hope you have a good weekend and look for more next week! 

your friend,

Flat

More from the Zoo

Hello Alec and friends,

Happy Wednesday!!!    The first thing we saw when we entered the zoo was their mascot.  Do you know what a mascot is? A mascot is a person, place or object that is thought to bring good luck.   Can you think of a mascot?  I bet you can...... how about..... Wapak's mascot

or the Ohio State University

 



The zoo has a mascot (sorta) maybe it is more like characters at an amusement park like

The Indianapolis Zoo mascot/character greeted Chuck and I, what a fun way to start our day.

Here is the first animal picture, a sea lion.  There are several of them at the zoo

One of them is called Ray and you can read his story  here
Here is this same sea lion trying to get back into the tank, he stayed there for awhile and then changed his mind and laid back down on the concrete below.  The zoo worker said he is fine, sometimes the other sea lions make too much noise and he needs some time away from them.

 



To read more about sea lions at the zoo click on the picture directly above!

 

Next up is the dog shark petting pool!!!  Yes you can pet sharks!  Well, they aren't the big sharks...

 

There is someone touching one of them...... it was alot of fun! 


Penguins!!!!!!!  Our camera didn't do so well taking pictures

The zoo has 3 species of penguins:

 King Penguin

Gentoo Penguin

and Rockhoppers

That is enough blogging for today!  I hope you enjoyed it. 

There is much more to come! 

Your friend,

Flat

 

 

 



Indianapolis Zoo Part 1

Well, if you couldn't figure it out, we went to the zoo on Saturday.  It wasn't a very good day, a little cold and windy.  Some animals were happy and enjoying the day outside, others did not come out at all.  It was still a fun day.

The first place we went to was a butterfly exhibit at White River Gardens it's part of your admission to the zoo. 

Here we are inside the building

Almost right away when we got inside the butterfly exhibit a butterfly flew onto your aunt's shoulder and stayed there for quite sometime.   A very nice lady offered to take the picture (as other did too)

Can you see it on the shoulder by the collar of her jacket?   We think maybe the butterfly liked the color of the collar since it was a similar color.

A closer look of the butterfly

At 11:00 am and 1 pm they have a "butterfly launch"  One of the workers goes into this case

and finds new butterflies that came out of their chrysalis.  Do you know what the life cycle of a butterfly is?  You can learn more about that at this link.

So we were there at the perfect time when they released 5 new butterflies!   Here is one that was a favorite of the people visiting the exhibit. It is very pretty! 

More pictures we would like to share.....

The exhibit is interesting because you walk around and there are butterflies flhying around and as you can see from the pictures above, landing on flowers that are everywhere.  It is a 2-level exhibit and you can see the people walking around below us.

Once the weather gets nicer, there will be flowers outside to see and many other things to see. You can learn more about White River Gardens by clicking on the butterfly picture below.

Look for more updates this week!! 

your friend,


Flat