Visiting with Grandma and Grandpa

Today we went to the zoo for the third time in a week and a half, and we saw all kinds of different things than the previous two times.  It's amazing how that can happen, even in a small zoo.   We got to hear a seal making a snoring sound and prairie dogs squeaking.  The polar bear looked right at us from across the moat; we figured he was thinking that Megan would make a good appetizer:

The lions were sunning themselves on the rocks:

We brought a picnic lunch, and Megan must have been hungry from all the walking around at the zoo, because she ate an entire peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a few carrot sticks, a serving of grapes, a bunch of potato chips and a whole lot of water.  Megan's new favorite word is "JELLY".

Grandma helped Megan walk on the balance beam by the camels:

And the girls got to ride the carousel, which they love!  Amelia went right back to the leopard, and this time Megan picked an elephant.  She told me afterwards that she really liked the elephant.

Amelia was very excited to wave to me every time she went around:

But Megan was very solemn, and enjoyed looking at herself in the mirror:

Amelia got tired of wearing her sunhat, so she switched hats with Grandpa:

And then she switched hats with Grandma.  You can see Grandma wearing Amelia's hat in the photo below.  It's a good look for Grandma, I think.  Here is everyone looking at the porcupines:

 The porcupines were very entertaining today!  They both had raised their quills and were chasing each other around their exhibit.  One would run through the hollow log, and the other would chase him, then they'd run around in circles.  I had never seen porcupines raise their quills before.  We are guessing that they were performing a mating ritual, but we told Amelia they were playing chase.  Here's a view of the porcupines with their quills raised from the back:

I took a poll of everyone's favorite animal, and here are the results:
Grandma, Grandpa and me: porcupines
Amelia: meerkats (the first time I asked) and prairie dogs (the second time I asked)
Megan: lion (the first time I asked) and penguins (the second time)

Who would have thought that the favorite animal at the zoo would be the porcupines?

This evening, Megan and Grandpa looked at ants in our driveway.  Megan loves bugs, and wanted the ants to crawl on her hands, but she didn't have much luck picking them up with her fingers.

So Grandpa caught a few ants for Megan and put them on her hand: