Pandamonium

In the third grade, at the girls' school, the students spend the last semester working on an independent study project.  They each get to choose an animal to study.  Kenna chose the Bald Eagle and Michal chose the Giant Panda.  I think it's fun that one chose the United State's national animal and the other chose China's national animal.

The students are encouraged to go see the animal they've selected at a zoo and to interview an expert who can tell them more about their animal.  We have an animal rescue and rehabilitation center near our house and they have a bald eagle.  Kenna was able to see their eagle and meet with an expert there.

Seeing a panda isn't quite so easy.  There are only three zoos in the United States that have pandas on loan to them from China:  Washington D.C., San Diego and Atlanta.

So this morning the girls and I flew to Atlanta and went to Zoo Atlanta to see the Giant Pandas.  It was great.  There are pandas both inside and outside and the enclosures allow you to get really close to the animals.  We spent a long time watching them play and eat and took lots of pictures.

The girls also loved the climbing wall, the carousel and the bird show at the zoo. 

After the zoo, back at our hotel, the girls were all ready to go swimming when the clouds rolled in and the skies opened up and it started pouring.  So we went and got dinner-to-go instead and then had popcorn and watched "Wreck It Ralph."

It has been a really fun day!