Better late than never...

We finished celebrating Dan's birthday last weekend...since I wasn't able to get him his present on time in April I decided to make it a 'Birthday Month' from April to May. We had cake (gluten free, of course) and ice cream (some of it homemade) many times throughout the month, and a few surprise presents showed up throughout. On the last day of the Birthday Month Dan got his main b-day gift (it took a while to organize but he said it was worth the wait)...an encounter with the wolves at the Alaska Zoo! Dan got to spend a couple hours with Stephanie (Zoo Keeper) and the six wolves, preparing their food, cleaning up litter from their enclosure and taking the alpha male, Denali, on a walk around the zoo grounds. After they came back from the walk, Dan and Stephanie fed them 'popsicles' - a bunch of frozen fruit and juices inside a bucket. It was pretty funny to watch the wolves bat the popsicles around and play with them. Harper and I had been watching the encounter from the public path inside the zoo, but we were invited behind the scenes to see and pet the wolves through the fence. The alpha female, Windy, was very curious about Harper and wanted to see her up close. Harper seemed to watch the wolves like she watches el Guapo, and she just smiled at them.

Dan petting Denali (alpha male of the pack) with zookeeper

On a walk in the zoo

Practicing sit commands with Denali

Feeding the wolves in their enclosure

Harper discovers she can grab the camera