Ruby-isms

Just wanted to jot down a few fun facts and cute stories about Ruby:

Rabbits are largely nocturnal, resting during the day and being more active in the evening, night, and early morning--and this includes Ruby. But Ruby is also a social little rabbit, so that means that she doesn't want to just play by herself, so twice (or more) a night, when she's ready for some company, she comes and scratches at our bedroom door so that I'll get up and play with her. She is very cute and usually wants to do lots of cuddling during these times. She has a routine all worked out--she'll lick my hand for a little bit, and then she nudges my hand with her head, nestling her head beneath my hand, indicating that it's my turn to pet her. So, I'll pet her and then after a little bit she'll lick me and then tell me it's my turn to pet her and so on. She also likes to put her nose against my nose and have me pet her--and then shows her love by licking my face. Then she puts her nose back against mine for a little bit and wants me to pet her, then she licks my face, and so on. I love her little routines--and I like that she's just as happy to give love as receive it. It makes me super happy to hear her little happy noise (a slight teeth-clicking, if you were wondering). She has also recently decided that sometimes she wants to sit in my lap and let me pet her, which is something she didn't used to do. All that sweetness makes it totally okay that she wakes me up in the middle of the night...twice.


Ruby is a smarty-pants...and she knows where the kitchen is and what the sound of the fridge opening and then water running means--that she's getting a treat. When Adam or I go into the kitchen, she is very attentive to what we are doing--and if I call her while I'm in the kitchen, she's more likely to come than if I call her while I'm in a different room. Also, with our little nighttime play sessions, I usually go back to bed once she starts munching on some hay...but sometimes, as soon as I turn off the light so I can go back in my room, she runs to my door because she knows I'm going to open it...and I think she knows she's not really allowed in there. Why, you ask? Well, she chews cords and I don't want to have to unplug the clock and stuff to keep it out of her way, and because she likes to hide under the bed and it's hard to get her out...especially when she finds a tear in the material under the box spring and hops up inside it and wanders around!

Ruby is very protective of her carrots. If we give her lettuce or cilantro, she's content to just eat it right there, but if we give her a piece of a carrot, she grabs it and and "hides" in her box to eat it. I'm not sure why she thinks we're going to take the carrots away--we haven't ever done that--but I think it's funny to see how consistent she is.


Ruby is way more popular than Adam and I are. Some proof:

I stopped by a friend's house to drop something off to her. She is my visiting teacher* from church, so she comes over once a month, and usually brings her youngest two kids with her. However, since I'm the Primary president*, I also see her kids every Sunday at church. Well, when I stopped by, her little boy said to me, "Hey, I know you! You're the girl from the bunny house!" Never mind the fact that he sees me every week at church; what's important is that once a month, he gets to see Ruby!

Our home teacher* brought his two-year-old son Paul over when he came for his monthly visit. A few days later, Paul was out for a walk with his mother and his friend, Jane. When they were walking past our house, Paul told Jane that it was "Ruby's house" and tried to bring her to the door to meet Ruby. (Unfortunately, we weren't home to accommodate his wish.) A week or so after that, Paul's mom made some strawberry jam and Paul and his dad came by to give us some. Paul's dad told him they were going to "Adam's house"; Paul informed him that that was "Ruby's house."

I taught a group of six-year-olds at church a couple weeks ago; the topic for the week was prayer, and in sharing an experience I've had with prayer, I talked about Ruby's illness a few months ago and the fervent prayers that Adam and I and our friends and family offered that she would get better. One of the girls (and actually the one I would have least expected to say something like that) said, "I wish I was your kid because then I could play with Ruby every day"!

Well, I can't say I blame the kids; Ruby is the cutest little rabbit ever. And even though they probably like her better than they like me, at least I get some coolness points for being Ruby's mom. :)

(*Visiting teachers are women who are assigned to each woman in the congregation and visit at least once a month to provide a spiritual thought, any needed assistance and just general watchcare. Home teachers are men who are assigned to each family and provide watchcare as well. Primary is essentially the children's Sunday school.)

Living Planet Aquarium, Part Seven--The Penguins (Part D)

Last round, I promise!

I didn't quite catch the moment when this little guy tripped, but you can see him picking himself back up. I was a little worried, but the Aquarium employee assured us that it's quite common for them to trip and they just bounce back up!







Here's Meg, hiding under the sink.


Adam's friend





As you can see, these little Gento penguins are super entertaining, and I pretty much fell in love with the aquarium--can't wait 'til they expand and have even more penguins!!

Living Planet Aquarium, Part Seven--The Penguins (Part C)

The penguins are super excited for feeding time!

Living Planet Aquarium, Part Seven--The Penguins (Part B)

This is right before feeding time. The penguins go nuts; they know it's time to eat and they'll all jump in the water and zoom back and forth, super excited for the food to come.

This penguin can't decide if he wants to go in the water or not...and toward the end, you can see a penguin jump out of the water.

Here we can see penguins diving into the water, as well as jumping out.



They're having fun under the water here!

They are zooming back and forth, ready for some food!

Living Planet Aquarium, Part Seven--The Penguins

Okay, now that it has been nearly 3 months since we went to the aquarium, I'm actually getting around to blogging about the penguins, who were the whole reason we went to the aquarium in the first place...In my defense, I've been super busy, and it's hard to narrow down...you know, 200-ish pictures and videos. I still haven't sorted through all the video to decide what to keep and what not to keep, but here are some cool pics.

I have always loved penguins, so for our anniversary, Adam and I went to the aquarium to see the penguins and do a behind-the-scenes penguin encounter, and it was awesome! The penguins were pretty funny. They have a room off the penguin area that they'll open up during the Penguin Encounters, and the penguins can wander in and out as much as they want.

This is when they first opened the door...first penguin in!Penguins tend to follow each other a lot, so more trickled in...

For some reason, the penguins really like to stare at the wall...
Those are Adam's knees; some of the penguins really liked to come stand by him.
It's mating season, so we saw several times when the couples would circle each other,
and then bow to each other.

There's Adam getting all the penguin friends again..

This particular penguin, Sampson (you can tell it's him by the band on his arms--he's got the blue and brown combo on his beads) kept coming back to stand by Adam; it was SO funny. I don't know why Sampson singled him out, but he came over many, many times.

More bowing and communicating between mates.

He was getting ready to call....

So close, but he decided not to do it.
Ah, even cuter than the penguins ;)

This funny little girl (Meg, I think), likes to hang out under the sink!


There's Sampson, pecking at Adam's shoelaces!
Notice the kinda scruffy looking feathers on this penguin's fins; that means he didn't shed properly last year :(

Sampson just chilling with Adam...










These are the penguins back in their area; we're watching from outside rather than in the back room.
Just dove in.

This one couldn't decide if he wanted to go in or not; he kept wandering back and forth, back and forth.

Living Planet Aquarium, Part Six--The Otters

Besides the penguins, the otters were the coolest thing about the aquarium. They're so funny! They're very active, like puppies.

You can see all three of them in this picture--two in the water and one above it.

Living Planet Aquarium, Part Five--Shark Tank

The shark tank was pretty interesting; there were three different types of sharks, as well as lots of fish and a cool turtle.


The poor turtle had a spot all picked out, and then one of the big nurse sharks apparently decided he wanted her spot and kept inching his way underneath her, nudging her. She did eventually yield and let him have her spot.


The big nurse shark lying on the bottom of the tank didn't move the entire time we were watching him. I'm assuming he was still alive since they left him in the tank, but he sure didn't move. The others were much more active.

Living Planet Aquarium, Part Four--South America Section

The South American section of the aquarium was pretty cool--lots of interesting animals to look at.

Snake...gross!

Gecko.
There's a 13.5 foot anaconda in there--someone thought they were going to keep it as a pet and then realized maybe that wasn't going to work out so well and donated it to the aquarium...really people? Did you think about that at all before you got a snake that can grow to be 24 feet long??
I think that's a spotted manta ray, who gets to hang out with the anaconda.
Piranha--doesn't look too dangerous, does it?

This is the smallest of the crocodile species.
Some big fish.
Some more big fish.
This is a "four-eyed" fish, which actually only has two eyes but the pupils are divided so it can see both above and below the water at the same time.
I think this was the poison dart frog, which is actually only poisonous when it eats a particular plant.

A yellow frog.
Another gross snake.
Some colorful fish.
An electric eel--who gives off a lot of voltage; they said that it the winter, they actually hook him up to a Christmas tree and he provides enough electricity to keep it lit. Cool!