Month: January 2008

Family Walks in Austin Dec. 2007

On the way to the neighborhood playground near Grandma and Grandpa’s house:

At Zilker Park, there is a bigger playground, lots of rocks to climb, and a train to ride.

Near Grandma and Grandpa’s house, there is also some “open space,” a large park with lots of trails and a stream. One day, we hike there and Leilani walked by herself almost the whole way to the stream (about 1.5 miles or 2 km). There are no pictures of it, but we stopped to eat lots of wild pecan nuts. At the stream, Leilani loved to throw rocks in the water.

A bird’s nest:

Only for the birds to eat:

Children’s Museum in Austin

The Children’s Museum in Austin is a good way to spend an afternoon. We went on Friday after Christmas and it was full of kids and their parents.

Leilani really liked to pretend to drive the bus. After some suggestions from us, she would take money and give change.

One area that she really enjoyed was the paper crafts table. For the first time, she really got to use scissors by herself. Seeing Sonja use them for scrapbooking has made her want to try for a long time:

With Grandma Rosemary:

For some reason, the train station area had a decorative sign pointing to Vienna (Wien). I checked, and it’s not even a sister city:

Pushing buttons is what she likes the most and does the best:

Also in the train station area:

This being Austin, one of the displays was a model of a biotech clean-room production line. Leilani was too young to really understand even what to do, but she liked to imitate what the older kids were doing. Notice the flattened nose:

Austin, 37th Street

Text by Andy:

There were really cool Christmas decorations on 37th Street again. We went twice, but Leilani missed out both times. The first time she fell asleep in the car, and Andy took blurry pictures. The second time, we went after our dinner-date downtown.

Several houses always have some very political messages–although I think this one was left over from Halloween:

The large blue ball that spins might represent a dreidel. In front of it are a string of monkeys with banana lights:

I should point out that this is actually 37½ Street, just because I find that amusing:

Trip to Austin 12/13/07-1/2/08

Here is a quick overview of our stay in Austin with Andy’s family over the holidays. We have many more photos to publish for each activity.

The plane from Lihue to Phoenix was less than 25% full and everyone got a full row to lay down and sleep. Leilani got to visit the pilots while boarding and her immediate question was “Can I push buttons?”

After we arrived in Austin we took a short nap, ate and went to midnight mass. After some fussing, Leilani took another nap there…

I made Christmas a separate post. But this is my favorite picture:

I think it was Christmas day that we went for an evening walk to a playground:

On the way back we admired the Christmas lights. Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were Leilani’s fixation this year. We learned the songs to sing to her, Grandma had the books that we had to read over and over, and she loved pointing them out in all the light displays. On this walk, we let her into somebody’s yard for the photo opportunity:

Jim has a garden, and still harvests arugula, lettuce, carrots, and broccoli:

We visited a few places around town, but in the end didn’t do too much driving–Leilani likes it better that way.

Leilani in the Big City, on our way to the Children’s Museum:

When Leilani saw the motorcycles in the window she immediately wanted to go in (and probably ride the Ducatis…).

At the children’s museum she got to chauffeur the big bus:

The Texas state capitol, seven feet (2 m) taller than the US capitol, as they like to point out. When I took this picture, I was really annoyed at the traffic light. But now that it is fixed it up, it’s a nice picture with an extra big red Christmas light—or maybe a symbolic message for the legislature.

We went to the zoo, my favorite was the petting zoo:

New Year’s dinner, with raclette—YUM!

We went for a few short walks in the neighborhood parks:

Austin Zoo 12/07

I don’t like Zoos, they depress me. I go there with very mixed feelings, Leilani loves to see the animals, and she doesn’t fully comprehend the lack of habitat, and the imprisonment of the non-domesticated animals. She can however feel the loneliness of some of the animals.

When Leilani saw the wolf she asked where his family was, and why he was all alone – and wouldn’t stop talking about it until we were far from his cage.

We spent a lot of time in the petting zoo, Leilani loves to feed and pet the animals:

Although it seems some animals have eaten enough already…

Jim found a friend:

Since I have been asked about zoos, and I am too lazy to re-write myself what others have said better I quote Adam M. Roberts, Senior Vice President, Born Free USA:

There is no overarching and conclusive educational benefit to keeping wild animals in captivity, and our collective focus must be the conservation of species in the wild.

In captivity, animals are kept in unnatural surroundings, in artificial physical and (often) social environments with little mental and physical stimulation. What is the educational benefit of seeing an animal exhibited in such a way that is dramatically removed from reality in the wild? The Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ own research acknowledges that “Little to no systematic research has been conducted on the impact of visits to zoos and aquariums on visitor conservation knowledge, awareness, affect, or behavior.” Zoo visitors spend minutes at best—often just seconds—at an exhibit glancing at an animal. Perhaps there is some signage on the cage; perhaps it is more than a few bullet points. This is not educational. This is entertainment; and dubious entertainment at that.

And what of conservation? Tens of millions of dollars can be spent altering enclosures—with little practical effect for the animals. But that same money invested in conservation in the wild places where animals live naturally would reap benefits for years to come. $10 million dollars invested in anti-poaching efforts around Mount Kenya, for instance, could fund vital, life-saving conservation initiatives into the next Century! In an American urban zoo that’s maybe a single, modest animal enclosure. Put the money into the wild… that’s real conservation.

I understand quite well the allure of seeing wild animals up close. Tigers, elephants, and many other species are awesome to behold. But we don’t all have the right to behold them in person—especially at any cost. There is a grave cost to the animals—the innocent victims in this situation—and potentially a grave cost to any humans who are harmed by coming in close contact with these wild animals.

The time has come to recognize that wildlife belongs in the wild. The cost of keeping wild animals in captivity is too great. Parents should engage their kids at libraries, with movies, and on the internet, to truly learn about wild animals. And visit sites such as bornfreeusa to learn why we believe every American should be a compassionate conservationist!