April 16 Photo: Flower

When I saw that the assignment was FLOWER, I had no idea that I would have such a photo opportunity present itself! Serendipity again.

The flowers are beautiful inside the renovated Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo.  It was a work day but I was lucky enough to be excused so that I could spend some time with family. We spent a lot of time enjoying the butterfly garden and some of the pictures  above were taken by my nieces.

My niece looking for butterflies.

It was a special occasion because my brother's wife and children were in town. I was excited to spend more time with my four nieces who live so far away.  So glad to get to know them better! Here they are (okay, the cute baby doesn't belong to my brother - she belongs to my sister Belinda)

My brother's sweet girls.

And not just those four but a whole crew of nieces and nephews also made up the ranks!  Getting them all to line up for a picture was a bit like herding cats, but we got most of them to stand still for a minute.  Lots of energy!!

A crew of nieces and nephews!

I enjoyed letting them show me all their discoveries as we looked around the conservatory. They pointed out all butterflies they could find and what they thought were the prettiest flowers.  And kids will be kids --they noticed all kinds of crazy features of the plants! How about this scary look underside of a plant?

Yikes!

But mostly a trip to the zoo is about the animals. They didn't disappoint.Although I think I saw more backsides than animals facing forward.

The highlight though had to be the new Penguin Plunge!!The line was moving well in the morning but we let groups go ahead of us as we collected everyone coming from different directions.  They let 60 people go in at a time which seems like a lot, but it has a good viewing area and didn't seem too crowded. You are right up next to the glass and I can see how some penguins could get some momentum and end up swimming/jumping right over the glass. We didn't get to see that happen though, but there was plenty of splashing going on - one penguin in particular is apparently a fan of directing a good splash at the visitors.There are four kinds of penguins at the zoo - King, Rock Hopper, Gentoo and Humboldt. All fun to watch!!

Rock Hopper and Gentoo Penguins

Feeding the Humboldt Penguins in the outside viewing area

One last flower to end the post. The orchids in the Conservatory are gorgeous!