{"id":4578,"date":"2016-08-03T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T15:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=4578"},"modified":"2016-08-03T09:39:48","modified_gmt":"2016-08-03T15:39:48","slug":"denver-zoo-red-pandas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2016\/08\/denver-zoo-red-pandas.html","title":{"rendered":"Mother’s Day 2016: The Red Pandas at the Denver Zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"As<\/a>

As my sons get older, their posing together for photos is becoming more and more rare…<\/p><\/div>\n

Almost exactly one year after Timmy and I spent the day at Denver Zoo to celebrate his stock market contest win<\/a>, I took both boys up there for Mother’s Day in May. Dave was in Pennsylvania visiting his own parents, and as I’ve said for many years, I only ever want a fun day—doing something I want to do—with my sons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jacob has been interested in red pandas lately. When Timmy visited the zoo last year, I let him choose one stuffed animal as a souvenir. He chose an arctic fox, but pointed out a promotion where you save about 15% on two stuffed animals. So Timmy had picked out a stuffed red panda for Jacob.<\/p>\n

Jacob loves that stuffed red panda, naming him “Ray.” He enjoys watching red panda antics on YouTube<\/a>. But he hadn’t see any in person yet.<\/p>\n

So we went up to the zoo to see if we could catch a glimpse of their red pandas.<\/p>\n

First we checked out some of the other exhibits.<\/p>\n

\"2016<\/a>

This brown bear simply walks back and forth. Over…and over…and over…<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2016<\/a>

We were pondering the duct tape around the midsection of this camel…<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2016<\/a>

…but this sign explained it all…<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2016<\/a>

The boys enjoyed feeding nectar to the lorikeets.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2016<\/a>

One of those lorikeets took the cup of nectar right out of Timmy’s hands!<\/p><\/div>\n

The first time we visited the red panda exhibit, they were sleeping. When we went by the second time, it was just after their feeding time, so we got to see them a little more active.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"They<\/a>

They are SO CUTE!<\/p><\/div>\n

But it wasn’t long before they were climbing back up into the higher branches to nap.<\/p>\n

\"2016<\/a> \"2016<\/a> \"2016<\/a><\/p>\n

Not long after we visited these pandas, we found out that they had babies!<\/p>\n

\"OMG<\/a>

OMG OMG OMG all the cutes! This was on my local news station in mid-July.<\/p><\/div>\n

The babies will be available for visitors to see starting in September<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost exactly one year after Timmy and I spent the day at Denver Zoo to celebrate his stock market contest win, I took both boys up there for Mother’s Day in May. Dave was in Pennsylvania visiting his own parents, and as I’ve said for many years, I only ever want a fun day—doing something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[661,175,62,662],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-1bQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3760,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/05\/our-stock-savvy-son.html","url_meta":{"origin":4578,"position":0},"title":"Our Stock-Savvy Son","date":"12 May 15","format":false,"excerpt":"Last fall, Timmy's gifted math class took part in a Colorado program called the \"Stock Market Experience\". Many\u00a0of states do this, and I remember a similar program while I was in high school, although I wasn't part of it. Students are given a notional $100,000 bank account and are allowed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"colorado\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/image14.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3938,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/08\/co-discoveries-45-denver-comic-con.html","url_meta":{"origin":4578,"position":1},"title":"Colorado Discoveries 45: Denver Comic Con","date":"25 August 15","format":false,"excerpt":"My family had the chance to attend Denver Comic Con* this past Memorial Day weekend with\u00a0family press passes I obtained through my association with GeekMom, a $150 value. This fact that the organization offered complimentary admission to our entire family is a testament to what a family-friendly experience this particular\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"animaniacs\"","img":{"alt_text":"The Colorado Convention Center is Denver is famous for the giant blue bear peering inside. ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/DSC_0255-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3277,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2014\/07\/colorado-discoveries-35-the-u-s-mint-in-denver.html","url_meta":{"origin":4578,"position":2},"title":"Colorado Discoveries 35: The U.S. Mint in Denver","date":"24 July 14","format":false,"excerpt":"My sons have always been interested in money. Not only saving money, but also how money is manufactured and distributed. I have memories of looking at U.S. paper money and seeing the\u00a0Federal Reserve Seal. The letter ties in with a location, with \"A\" being Boston, Massachusetts in the northeast and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"colorado\"","img":{"alt_text":"The Denver Mint is an interesting place to visit, but the security requirements are pretty stringent.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/IMG_9328-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":451,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2010\/08\/colorado-discoveries-part-1-denver-and-stoor-wedding.html","url_meta":{"origin":4578,"position":3},"title":"Colorado Discoveries: Part 1 — Denver and Stoor Wedding","date":"20 August 10","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this month the family paid a trip to our neighbor state to the west: Colorado. We were invited to our friend Rose's wedding at Buckley AFB near Denver! We worked with Rose in Florida, and I had a chance to work with her again while I was deployed in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"colorado\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2930,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2014\/01\/colorado-discoveries-27-denver-downtown-aquarium.html","url_meta":{"origin":4578,"position":4},"title":"Colorado Discoveries 27: Denver Downtown Aquarium","date":"14 January 14","format":false,"excerpt":"During the kids' winter break we took a day trip up to Denver for a little sightseeing. First, we stopped at the Downtown Aquarium. I will say up front that if you find it a little strange that there's an aquarium over 1000 miles from the nearest major body of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"colorado\"","img":{"alt_text":"I'd never been to an aquarium with REAL LIVE MERMAIDS before; those little girls were mesmerized!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/DSC_0116-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2884,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2014\/01\/colorado-discoveries-25-denver-botanic-gardens.html","url_meta":{"origin":4578,"position":5},"title":"Colorado Discoveries 25: Denver Botanic Gardens","date":"03 January 14","format":false,"excerpt":"During my inlaws' visit to Colorado, we took a day and went up to Golden and Denver. While Dave, his Dad and Jacob visited Caboose Hobbies in Denver, Dave's Mom, Timmy and I headed over to the Denver Botanic Gardens which was only a couple miles away. Being that it's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"colorado\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/2013-12-28-Denver-Botanic-Gardens1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4578"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4578"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4593,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4578\/revisions\/4593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}