Monday, February 13, 2012

Valentine Crafts with Inky

Making Valentines for Friends

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

This weekend, Inky and I got out her craft supplies and set them up on her dining room table. We were making valentines for our friends!

Making Valentines for Friends: Eight

I made pink valentines, of course! I used stickers with kitties saying "You're the Cat's Meow!" and stickers with honeybees saying "Bee Mine!" I think they look beautiful.

Making Valentines for Friends: Four

To help keep our energy up, Inky's Mom made us a plate of sugar cookies with pink frosting and sprinkles. Not only were they delicious, but they were the perfect cookies to eat while making valentines.



Making Valentines for Friends: Five

Inky and I dressed in our best Valentine outfits. I wore my valentine skirt and my special pink and red argyle tights. Inky wore her new narwhal tee. The dinner room looked perfectly lovely with all the heart garlands that Inky and I had made.



Making Valentines for Friends: Nine

Before long, we had made enough valentines to send to our friends all over the country. (Of course we made some for our families too!)

Making Valentines for Friends: Eleven
I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day! Make sure to give your family lots of hugs and your friends lots of high-fives!

Friday, February 10, 2012

National Zoo & Washington Monument

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Remember how Inky and I went to Washington, DC to see the Mariinsky Ballet with Inky's aunt? We actually got to stay for the entire weekend. While we were there I got to fulfill one of my goals for the year- I wanted to see a real, live Giant Panda! Inky and I had the chance to visit the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park- aka, the National Zoo.

One

We started out at the Panda Pavilion, where there is a big gift shop full of panda-themed items. There is a big panda statue outside, so we had to climb on it for a photo.

Two

Then, we went to the Asia Trail- the section of the zoo where the pandas live. There is a big building with different exhibit spaces for both kinds of pandas- Giant Pandas (my favorite!) and Red Pandas (Inky's favorite!). We saw two big adult pandas eating bamboo. There were some little exhibits for kids to look at. In this photo, Inky and I are playing in one of the crates the zookeepers use to keep the pandas active and busy.

bamboo snack

In the outside exhibit area, the red pandas were exploring their exhibit. Just like Giant Pandas, the Red Panda's main food is bamboo. Inky told me she loves to eat bamboo shoots in stir fry; we promised we'd ask her parents to make some for us.

Seven

There is a cute statue in the Asia Trail of two little red pandas, so Inky and I had to have our photo taken there too. Inky kept saying she wished she had a magic cupboard like the book Indian in the Cupboard, so that she could make the big panda statue come alive! I thought that might be a little scary, but a baby red panda would be pretty cute.

Nine

After we visited the pandas, we walked around the rest of the zoo. Most of the animals were inside, because it was very cold. Luckily, we found the Small Mammal House. There was a big statue of an aardvark outside. We had to take a photo to send our parents. The National Zoo really has a lot of animal statues!

Cheetahs in their den

As we left the zoo, we walked past the cheetah exhibit. Don't they look a tiny bit scary in their den? I bet they were cold- none of the other African animals were outside that day.

Eleven

We stopped by the gift shop on the way out. Inky and I decided to buy each other a present- but we're going to keep them hidden until Valentine's Day, when we'll surprise each other with our presents.

After that, we rode the DC Metro to the National Mall. It was really cool! So far, I've only been on subways in New York City and Washington, but Inky said I was a pro. I figured out our route all by myself!

Fourteen

There's a ranger station near the Washington Monument; we went there to turn in our Junior Ranger workbooks. The Junior Ranger program is a little bit like Girl Scouts. Kids can do a little workbook about a National Park and then earn a badge. Inky and her friend Violet have about twenty badges each, but this was my first one. I was proud to earn it in our nation's capitol. When the ranger swore us in as official Junior Rangers, I knew I would keep my promise to protect our nation's treasures.

Twelve

After we got our badges, we had to go to Union Station so we could catch the train back up to New York City, where Inky lives. Before we left, Inky snapped this photo of me in front of the Washington Monument. We had a great trip! I hope I'll be back someday!