From the zoo....to Russia!

Once again, we had a fun, adventure-filled weekend all over Austin!  There is definitely no short supply of all kinds of activities; it's just a matter of finding the time to fit them into your schedule.  Yesterday, we decided to venture to the zoo/animal sanctuary in the morning, and because it's a very small rescue facility, we were able to tour the entire zoo in under two hours. 

When we first arrived, we were greeted by this beautiful peacock, who then turned towards us, running and squawking, so we were not too sure how welcome we were!  The entire zoo is not paved, so we were racing our little umbrella strollers as fast as we could on the rocks.  I'm sure that peacock was laughing in his head.

 Then, on to one of my favorites...the tigers!  This one was really close, and started out asleep...

 But then saw something as it began to prowl over...

 And decided to perch on this rock and watch all the visitors...what a beautiful animal.  But I'm glad it's behind a cage.

 I didn't know they came this big!  While I love pigs, this one was as big as a horse! 

 These two lions had been rescued from the circus! 

Claire loved touching the goats!

After the zoo, we went home for naps, then later that afternoon, drove down to UT and went to a free music festival in one of their theaters.  We arrived as the Celtic music was ending, but the few songs we stayed for were played by this Russian group.  It was quite interesting!  That giant guitar is called a balalaika, and they range in size from very small (man on left) to giant (man on right)!  The music reminded me of a Russian mob movie, but the girls were waving their arms at the exact same time in tune with the music and it was pretty hilarious!

 Caroline was more amused by her seat bottom being able to go up and down.  I'm not sure if she's grimacing from the seat or from the music.

 Claire was bopping up and down with her seat to the music.  They both love any kind of music!