Howard the Hippo Written By: Harry Gribnitz When Janet and Jim were young, one of our favorite family activities was a visit to the zoo. While living in Chicago, Brookfield Zoo was our regular spot, but we also managed to visit Lincoln Park Zoo for variety. When travelling, we would often visit a local attraction. It could be one of the excellent zoos in San Diego, Milwaukee or San Antonio, Busch Garden in Tampa, Moody Gardens near Houston, one of the Sea World locations or a local petting zoo in any small town. It didn’t really make any differences. The zoo presented an opportunity to learn, have fun and share a day with the kids. Even at the zoo, Janet was her usual studious self. She would read all the signs to learn about the animals. She would study the guidebooks and try to pronounce all the names of the animals. To Janet it wasn’t just a dog; it was a dogious woofious (or whatever the “real” name was). For Jim the zoo experience was different. He was much more interested in seeing what kind of antics the monkeys had in mind. Often his goal was to see if he could do the same. Has your five-year old ever worn a banana peel on his head? One year we adopted a Hippopotamus at the Brookfield Zoo. Jim promptly decided he needed a name. So Howard the Hippo became the newest member of the family. When we visited, we had to stop by to see Howard. Usually Howard didn’t do much when we visited, but Jim would just sit and look for a long time. I am convinced that over time Howard actual got used to Jim. Sometimes he even seemed to move his head a little, when Jim called his name. Recently, I became a member of John Ball Zoo Society. A visit with a friend revived the wonderful memories of the family visits. I was impressed with the zoo in general and the new Chimpanzee exhibit, Mokomboso Valley, gets a giant WOW!!!! I would like to help you share the joy of a visit to the zoo with your family and friends. I have made a special arrangement with John Ball Zoo for discount memberships for my friends and clients. Great Christmas presents for family, kids, or grandkids! Just complete the coupon on the back of this letter and mail to the zoo or call 616-336-4311 for more information. Thanks, Harry Gribnitz Your Home Loan Specialist for Life! PDF VERSION Warning: main(/home/wmmh/westmichiganmortgagehelp-www/bannerbottom03.htm): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/wmmh/westmichiganmortgagehelp.com/html/pr_hippo.php on line 45 Fatal error: main(): Failed opening required '/home/wmmh/westmichiganmortgagehelp-www/bannerbottom03.htm' (include_path='.:/usr/share/pear') in /home/wmmh/westmichiganmortgagehelp.com/html/pr_hippo.php on line 45