Snow=Happiness

Angel in the snow

Catching snowflakes on your tongue, shooting downhill on a sled, dressing a newly built snowman, whirling snowballs at your siblings, and of course making snow angels; that is what snow means to a kid!  It is so wonderful that these kids rush to find their boots, snowbibs, hats, and gloves when they see a layer of snow on the ground.

When they start hating the snow...that will be a sad day! A sign of them growing up, losing that childhood wonder.  Until then, it is a joy to bring them lunch in paper bags and cocoa to drink outside in their snowforts and see their ruddy cheeks over cups of cocoa after they stumble in the door.  The last snow day they spent four hours sledding thanks to a perfect day for playing without any wind.

Photo Op with Marlin

Recalling the accomplishments of zoo founder Marlin Perkins

Back in the 1980s, there was a television show called, "Wild Kingdom by Mutual of Omaha," with St. Louis Zoo director Marlin Perkins as the host.  This show was WILDLY popular (pun intended) and one of the first nature shows to take the nation's attention.  I remember tuning in on a regular basis to watch Marlin Perkins track elephants in the African savannah and show off the fangs of deadly snakes he was holding.

Fast forward to March of 2018 - this guy on the left had the assignment all 5th graders in their school have had since the beginning of time: the Famous Missourian! His famous Missourian to research was none other than Marlin Perkins.

This guy did a most excellent job of preparing for his presentation, even reading Marlin's 257 page autobiography - which he highly recommends! We said the next time we visited our beloved zoo we would have to get a picture with old Marlin - and here it is!

A Few Things Built at Grandma's House

 by: Igor