Easter Break, Part I: Wildlife Preserve

 April 19
Grandma and Grandpa came down for Easter break! The kids love it when they come.  We thought it was best if they came down to Phoenix for Easter instead of us going up there, since Erik had to work the day after Easter. Here are some pictures of some fun stuff we did, namely, our visit to The Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center.

We ate at Butters for brunch. Ian was grumpy almost the entire time. I ordered the same thing as I did when I was there a week or so prior: the garden skillet, with the cinnamon roll pancake. Yum!

The Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center does tours by reservation only, and its pretty spendy but we've been wanted to go for awhile so this was a great time to go, before it got too hot.  The tour took a few hours to get through, and the kids (especially Ian--well, mostly Ian) were so done. I thought it was really neat to learn about all the animals they took in, but the neatest part is that we were so super close to animals that we would be lucky to even get a glimpse of in the wild.  All the animals they show off on the tours are permanent residents there and cannot be rehabilitated. It was interesting to hear the stories of how the animals came to be at the facility, but a little sad to hear how mean, but mostly dumb/ignorant people can be when it comes to wild animals. The tour guide was pretty invested in her job (which is appreciated!), as you can tell from the videos.

This was the second minute-long howl that we heard.

I've heard how majestic wolfs are supposed to be, but seeing them in person was kind of a let-down.  They're basically dogs.  Big dogs.

I hear coyotes frequently at home, so it was cool to see a few up close

Ian, a big ol' turtle, and a mouthful of something (probably fruit snacks)

Elisa helping feed an animal

The foxes. I love the cute noises they make.  They are such cute animals!

An up-close look at a (previously abused) cougar.  He seemed to me like a really big cat, with over-sized paws.

The bobcats were fun to watch, they looked just like kittens playing around!

This poor buck, forced to watch a group of does through the fence, yet never allowed fulfill his manly deer-duties.

Feeding the bear peanut butter! I've never ever been that close to a bear before!

Overall, a really neat and educational experience; I'm glad we went!