Zoo Atlanta!

My parents surprised me with a trip to Zoo Atlanta. I had never seen some of the types of animals at this zoo. I had been to this type of zoo before, but I was too young to really remember that much. The first animals I saw were the elephants.

Here is an elephant enjoying a snack.

There was an enclosed area with lots of parakeets. They are so colorful!

There are so many of them!

We also saw some wild boars.

Here are some meerkats hanging out with each other.

I am so happy seeing all these beautiful animals!

Here is a close-up.

And now the giraffes. Look at those long necks!

Here I am pretending to be an animal.

And this enclosure is called a "Living Treehouse" with all sorts of arboreal animals.

They like to snuggle up and sleep high in the trees.

I'm in a REALLY big bird's nest.

And then we moved on to the primates. These gorillas are descendants of the famous Willie B. Mama talked about coming to Zoo Atlanta as a child and seeing Willie B.

They are just hanging around in their habitat.

And here is an orangutan. Mama said this one is her cousin because of the red hair! Mama also explained to me that we really are the "cousins" of apes since we are all primates.

Here's a nice shot of me with Mama. We don't have any of Daddy since he was the photographer that day.

We also had fun visiting with the reptiles and amphibians. Here is a Komodo Dragon.

And here I am hitching a ride on one. OK, I'll admit it. This is just a very realistic-looking sculpture.

Giddyup!

I love this (fake) Komodo Dragon!

And then the highlight of the visit for me was the pandas! They come from China just like I do. These pandas are from the panda preserve in Chengdu, which is located one province over from where I'm from in Chongqing. Pandas are critically endangered animals (just like lots of animals at Zoo Atlanta) and these types of zoos are doing everything possible to ensure that these beautiful animals don't go extinct.

They sure do love their bamboo. I told Mama that I want a panda, but she said we just wouldn't have enough bamboo to feed it!

I can't even remember what this guy is. But he's basking in the sun.

And spent some time at the petting zoo. These are some fat, lazy goats! But they sure do love being groomed and loved on.

They really love the attention.

Mama really likes these Nubian goats. She had goats growing up and loves them.

Mama knew that the goat would love being scratched under its chin.

We finished up with the flamingos. The gray ones are babies. Their feathers don't turn pink until they get older.

These are some beautiful birds!

Well, that's it for now. We had a fabulous time at Zoo Atlanta. And now we are looking forward to Thanksgiving and then Hanukkah. We love this time of year with the cool weather and festivities.

Halloween 2011

Our family had a very fun month of October and Halloween! Here I am with Mama in our costumes. She was a goth angel, and I was Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

And here I am with Daddy. Lots of people thought he looked very scary. But I wasn't afraid. He was Rorschach from the movie The Watchmen.

We also went to a Halloween carnival. I played lots of games and won prizes.

We really enjoyed the carnival! We did "Trunk or Treating" and then later went to do some "Trick or Treating!

I had fun carving our pumpkin.

This is the part I don't like: cleaning out the messy inside!

This is not very fun at all.

But the finished product was worth all the work!

We also had a great time picking out our pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.

I think we picked the perfect pumpkin!

I made some masks too.

Mama colored this one.

We had a really fun month. And next month we are looking forward to Thanksgiving and a few other events like a trip to Zoo Atlanta!

Formal Affirmation Of The Jewish Faith

Mei-Ling made the decision to formally affirm her desire to be part of the Jewish faith. We had a beautiful ceremony with Rabbi Gerson and some friends and family in attendance. Here we are holding the Torah scrolls.

Mama is giving her "speech."

And now Rabbi Gerson is blessing us as Mei-Ling enters into the covenant.

Afterward, we had a reception with some delicious foods, including this beautiful cake that said, "Mazel tov!"

First Day Of Kindergarten!

I've now been in Kindergarten for four full weeks, and I'm having a great time! I'm learning lots of new things, making new friends and enjoying myself. Here are some pictures from my first day of Kindergarten. I know you can't see much of it in this picture, but I also have a cool Hello Kitty backpack.

This year, we are wearing uniforms. We get to pick between navy blue, khaki or black bottoms and several solid color tops. I chose navy blue and white.

I know many of my classmates will be wearing pants, but I'm a "dress" kind of girl. So I'll be wearing lots of scooter skirts and jumpers with white blouses.

And, I have some brand new white sneakers along with some white lacy socks, which I absolutely love. Even with uniforms, there are ways for me to add my own Mei-Ling signature to the outfits. And these lacy, roll-down socks scream, "Mei-Ling!"

Well, that's it for now. I'm super busy with school and of course homework, which I never had in Pre-K. It's a bit of an adjustment for me, but I still love school. We'll be posting more updates later as we move into fall.