Panda Girl is craaaaazy about pandas.
She loves them. Mucho mucho.
And so for her birthday and because she is so kind and sweet and always smiling and always helping, we booked her a flight with Papa to Edinburgh Zoo to meet Tian Tian and Yang Guan, the only pandas in the UK.
Here's her incredible day:
5.30am wake up, dressing appropriately for a Scottish December.
-1C. At the airport in time for sunrise
On the bus to the Zoo.
Because you have to book tickets to see the pandas themselves Panda Girl's time slot was not until after lunch and so she had to wait an agonising two hours. I guess checking out the ibis, pygmy hippo, koalas, lizards, stick-insects etc in the meantime was no bad way to spend the time, though.
Are you ready?
AND HERE THEY ARE.
She was thrilled that the girl panda blinked at her.
The keepers allowed Panda Girl to come back and see the pandas all afternoon and just before closing time, they allowed just her and Papa into the restricted viewing area which is closed to the public during the winter. Day made.
Yang Guang eating bamboo.
With the keepers.
Tian Tian ate a crumbly rice cake and then licked the crumbs off her tummy. Panda Girl found this extremely funny and endearing!
Homeward bound.
Late night adventure stories! Her big sisters stayed up way past bedtime to hear all about her day.
Sharing her photos with her siblings the next morning.
What a day!
