Sunday

After Lucy left us on Sunday, we took Rudy to an Earth Day festival. It's amazing how much more fun all these events are with a two year old. It wasn't sunny but it didn't rain and Rudy loves to be outside no matter what the weather is. Our first stop was a zoo animal presentation. They had a snake, bunny, owl, and porcupine. Of course we didn't get any pictures but Rudy loved seeing the "aminals". The first to come out was the bunny, which we could pet. We weren't allowed to touch any of the others but as each was brought out Rudy would say "Rudy nice", which is his way of saying "I'll pet it nicely". He loved the snake and Paul and I were fascinated by the porcupine. If you've never seen one up close, they have a real personality - almost monkey like. The porcupine sat on its hind legs and used his front to eat a snack. Then when the zookeeper was petting it, he kept reaching one of his front paws back to push her away. Again, I wish I had taken pictures.

After the animals we walked around and looked at some of the exhibits. The event was at a local recycling facility. They have a playground made out of recycled materials, including a real boat that the kids could climb in. There was also a hay maze. So of course Rudy had fun with all of that. Next we found the pony rides. I was expecting it to be ponies walking in circles under a tent but there was a horse (grande) and a pony (pequeno) that the kids could ride while being led around a clearing. Rudy of course wanted to ride the 'nanhe' one but Paul and I overruled him and he went on the pequeno one. I walked around next to him but he did very well - he held on and sat down the whole time - even when we passed a donkey braying loudly.

After the pony ride we tracked down our favorite guilty pleasure at the festivals - fried oreos. Rudy wanted to go back to the playground so we told him we were getting something to eat (which usually motivates him) and he said 'no' and started to walk away from us. So Paul said "we're going to get chicolate (which is Rudy's word for sweets)" and Rudy immediately turned around and started running in the direction we were going. Sweets definitely motivate him - and we don't even give them to him that often!

After that we saw a few more animals including another snake. This time Rudy was allowed to touch it and he did. The snake's tongue was checking out Rudy's hand and Rudy just stayed still and let it smell him. Now if you ask him about a snake, you'll see him stick his tongue out. Our last stop for the day was a giant slide- very similar (although on a larger scale) to the one his babysitter has.