World, meet Tommy Baby (aka Teeny Tiny Baby). Sadie found Tommy Baby at an estate sale a few doors down the other day and insisted on taking him home. I believe he must have been a somewhat large Baby Jesus for a Mardi Gras King Cake. Because why else would someone make/have a tiny naked baby? Lucky for us, we scored Tommy Baby for free!
The comparison between Tommy Baby and Big Baby (we’ve dropped the “Too”) is comical. And Sadie’s love for Tommy Baby is in no way correlated with his minuscule size. We thought we’d lost him the other night, and I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. I’d not considered Big Baby’s monstrous size as an asset, but now I see she’s much harder to misplace.
Oh, and Sadie’s started this funny thing where, when you ask her an open-ended question, sometimes her answer is just “No.” How are you today? “No.” How old are you going to be on your birthday? “No.”
So, I’ve kind of always had a thing for penguins. I still remember the first time I saw a penguin exhibit. I was 20, and it was at the New Orleans aquarium. They’re just so darn cute. Naturally, I wat totally excited when I had the opportunity to have a special preview of the Laura P. Nichols Penguin Pointe at the Little Rock Zoo.
Penguin Pointe is fantastic, and if you’re in the Central Arkansas area, you should pop in to the Zoo this Saturday (March 5, 10am) for the Grand Opening. Or at least get on down there sometime soon.
Here are a few tidbits about Penguin Pointe:
The exhibit is designed to allow you to you see the penguins both above ground and underwater. I thought this was awesome. When Sadie and I met up with Stephanie, Sean and Jasper at the Memphis Zoo last fall, Sadie was really into the penguins. But we weren’t able to see them swimming from an underwater perspective. This makes a huge difference.
As of now, there are a total of 11 penguins living here in Little Rock, and they are all African blackfooted penguins. In the exhibit itself are seven males and two females (one bonded pair so far!). Two additional penguins, Laura ans Skipper, live in their own quarters so they can attend presentations, events and school visits.
Laura and Skipper are available for educational birthday parties! Yes, please.
All of the penguins were bred in captivity as part of the Species Survival Plan.
The African blackfooted penguin is an endangered species, so the Little Rock Zoo is doing its part to help conserve these awesome little creatures.
Here are some way belated snow day pictures. That I stole from Carrie’s Picassa album. Thanks, Carrie!
Okay, so these actually aren’t really of snow. They’re of Sadie and me proving that we can still rock babywearing. I was super skeptical that it would work out (the last handful of times over the past year I’ve tried to get Sadie in the carrier, she’s flat-out refused), but we wanted to join friends for a walk to some other friends’ home for a cozy snow day potluck. I finally feel like I got my money out of that $80 wool poncho thing I got to wear over the carrier. Sort of.
We’re in Austin for Trevor’s birthday and the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. We’ve been enjoying ourselves, indulging in things like TV, making a mess of our room, French fries, milkshakes and general merriment. Last night, we all fell asleep before 8:00. That’s right, folks. This is what vacation dreams are made of.
Just a quick preview of the sweet new penguin exhibit opening at the Little Rock Zoo.
I’m waiting on an info sheet with more details about the penguins and the exhibit, and we’re going to be out of pocket this weekend, so this will have to hold you over.
