Rolling Into Salina by Kinley

Hello all!

It's me again, Kinley. It's been almost a week since I "rolled" into Salina and had an adventure. But there's just been no time to write! I've been busy, busy, busy perfecting my somersaults and working on my sprinting. I say "Set!" and my Mommy and Daddy say, "Go!" I am super fast. My Grandma says I get that from my Mommy.

Anyway, I figured I'd better get this story told before the weekend rolled around again, and I had more adventures to report. Last Saturday, my Mom and Dad had some business to take care of in Salina. I had some business of my own. I needed to entertain Grandma and Grandpa.

They seem to like zoos. I really like animals. I had the perfect solution: Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure.

I was ready to pay my own way. But bonus! I was free. Grandma and Grandpa weren't old enough to get the senior discount. Grandma was glad. Grandpa was hoping for the discount.

One of my favorite animals right now is the turtle. In fact, I said my first complete sentence when I was with Uncle Brent, Mommy and Daddy at the Louisville (KY) Zoo earlier this month. "I see turtles." I got a stuffed turtle to commemorate the occasion. The turtles at Rolling Hills were being l - a - z - y last Saturday. They just laid around in the mud.

Grandma says the turtles must like cooler weather better. When she was there in March, they were moving all around.

Oh well! I showed off some of my other skills by identifying the eyes, nose and mouth on a turtle statue. It's pretty easy to impress the grandparents, I am finding out.

The turtles weren't the only things we found in the water. We also saw swans. I was thinking that joining them in the water seemed like a very good idea on a very hot day, especially since they had bubbles in their pond. Grandma says that it was a fountain. But I told her it was bubbles. I love bubbles.

Grandpa got me some fish food for a quarter, and we watched them fight over the food. I showed my Grandma how fish make a funny face. 

Besides the swans, we saw a pretty pink flamingo and three ostriches who had just gotten fed.

The turtles weren't the only tired creatures at the zoo. The orangutans didn't want to come and play either. Grandma had to find me a picture from another trip so I could see what they looked like. One guy just wanted to lay beneath a cardboard box. He wouldn't even wake up to say "Hi!" to Grandpa and me. Can you believe it?

 

A big old cougar looked like he was ready to eat me up! Can you blame a girl for getting away from that!?

My Grandpa says that the Rolling Hills grounds crew needs to take care of their bind weed. I don't know anything about that, but I did like the prairie dogs and the pretty white flowers.

I liked the big, tall giraffes. I just might have gotten a stuffed giraffe as a souvenir from our adventure ... and a book about animals and colors. You can tell my Mommy that I didn't ask for any treats. Grandma just thought I needed a little something to remember the day.

I don't know that I've ever seen an anteater before. He was kind of silly looking. I liked the camels. But I don't know what a camel OR an anteater says.

Did you know I'm bilingual? Well, I am pretty well versed in animal languages. I told each and every animal, "Bye, bye." It's only the polite thing to do. Don't you tell folks goodbye when you're leaving their house?

It was getting really hot, so Mommy and Daddy didn't meet us at the zoo this time. After we cooled off and had some lunch, we went to the mall. I guess Grandma and Grandpa weren't done seeing me with the animals because I got to play with some animals there, too.

Then my Daddy said it was naptime, and I had to head for home. I needed to rest up to see Grandma Christy and Grandpa Alan and the rest of Daddy's family the next day. Whew! What a weekend! No wonder it took me awhile to rest up enough to write this.

Until next time,
Kinley Marie