Holiday Pictures

Here are some photos of the past few days:



This is me and my brother, and Kaitlyn of course, on Christmas day after we opened all our presents.



There have been plenty of games to play, from "tri-ominoes" to tripoley, we've kept busy!



Grammy and Kaleb look like they're having a good time!



Even Joy's mom flew in to spend Christmas with us here in Ohio.



This is my nephew Sam, growing growing growing!



This is my multi-talented sister-in-law, Aly.



And what Christmas would be complete without a little wrestling?!

Finishing Up

Cookies and Christmas music, snowball fights and fireplaces, hot chocolate and family--it's that time of year once again! That's good because I think the snow is here to stay in Sherbrooke. We're living in a perpetual state of "flurries." Tomorrow we're supposed to get "beaucoup de neige" [lots and lots of snow] thanks to the snowstorm that's hit the rest of the US earlier this week. I'm half-way through my final exams for the semester, only three more tests and then I'm done!



Joy finishes her first semester on Friday as well, and we are hoping to leave Saturday morning for Ohio. I hear rumors of snow along our route...measured with a yard stick, so we'll see how long it takes us to get there. Usually, it should take about 15 hours, but with a baby and the weather, it will probably take significantly longer =) Our classes begin again on January 5th, so we will head back a few days before then.

Kaitlyn got her first taste of snow today; I don't think she liked it. She must have gotten some of that California blood from her mommy. When we come back for the winter semester I'll have to take her sledding and see how she likes that. But I'll have to wait for a warm day around 10 or 20 degrees. We did get an opportunity to take a family photo though right after I finished my oral exam.



We are definitely looking forward to some time off from our studies, and we'd ask you to pray for a safe journey to Ohio and a refreshing time with our family.

Fireside

Grab a warm blanket, a good book, and a tall mug of [insert hot beverage of choice] and make your way to the fireplace...if you have one.

It's one of those days here in Sherbrooke! It rained yesterday, snowed most of the night, and rained all morning. Now the windchill is right around 20 degrees thanks to the 40mph winds. Old man winter arrived overnight and is holding on with an iron grip!

But I was reminded (as the snow plow drove by really early this morning!), life moves on. So I got up and met the guys for a Saturday morning prayer breakfast. Thankfully, it was mostly in English. While we are making great progress in French, it is still very difficult to get much out of our French chapels and church services. We can understand many words and phrases, but our brains aren't fast enough to keep up with what's being said.

Two weeks lay between now and our Christmas break. The plan is to spend most of the break in Ohio at my parent's house. Aside from all the scheduled appointments at the doctor, dentist, attorney, family pictures, etc., we will have a blast! My parents and both siblings now live in Ohio, so it will be great to see everyone, and give my brain a rest!

Speaking of progress, a certain little Kaitlyn is already growing up so fast! She's trying to stand, roll over, and has turned into quite the talker. She is always excited when I come home from school...so is mom for that matter.



Our support has climbed a little bit; it's right around 85% now. Please continue to pray that the rest will come in by the summer so that we can leave for Congo on time! Pray that we will finish the semester strong and have a safe trip to Ohio (we are driving)! We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!



*Don't forget to take a look at our latest newsletter here: www.maf.org/konop

Starting Early

Last weekend I did something I haven't done in a l o n g time! Some of our friends here let us in on a little secret that one of the university's here has free ice skating on Sunday afternoons. Of course I was interested right away; I even brought my hockey skates just in case there were any opportunities to play some hockey while we are up here. Joy didn't have any, but a quick trip to the local thrift store fixed that problem, and we went last Sunday. Most of the time Kaitlyn was bundled up in her snow suit, happily sleeping away. But right before we left, I thought it was appropriate to introduce her to the "coolest" game on earth, and we skated around for a few laps. I even let her feel the ice and stand up on her own. She loved it!



Kaitlyn also really likes bath time--or maybe she just likes to be pampered!



Our French studies are continuing; it seems weird that we only have six weeks of school left before our Christmas break. It's going by so fast. So far we have been healthy, but many of our friends and family have either been sick or are sick. It's been surprisingly balmy here; we've had a lot of rain, but it hasn't really been that cold yet. I have a feeling it's coming though.

Ca roule!

[It's rolling] We've just finished our most recent newsletter, unfortunately I'm not computer savvy enough to get it on here. If you'd like a copy of it, you can email me at ckonop@maf.org and I can send you a copy! You can also find our most recent newsletters on our MAF website at www.maf.org/konop Everything is going well here. Winter is slowing taking over; I think it's supposed to snow for the better part of this coming weekend. We'll see if it decides to stick around for a while this time! Kaitlyn is keeping us plenty busy, along with our studies and required* social events. *That's right, we're "required" to attend at least one social activity each week to help us develop our French communication skills. We're getting sleep whenever we get the opportunity. Even as I'm writing this, I think Kaitlyn is sleeping, so I might go catch a few winks before she wakes up again! We're praying for you!

Fatherhood

Hi! My name is Kaitlyn Renee! I arrived on Wednesday, September 30th, at 1:27 in the afternoon. I'm happy to be here; it was getting pretty crowded in mommy's tummy, although it was nice and warm in there! Right after I was born, it was a little hard for me to breathe, so I had to stay in the hospital a few extra days until my lungs healed up. I'm doing much better now that we made it home safe and sound. Some of my favorite things to do are: eat, sleep, and be held close to mommy and daddy. I think it's kind of funny when I fill my diapers because I know daddy has to change me, and he thinks it's yucky. I just smile and wiggle around just to make it more fun for him! I've gotten to see some neat things already too...the beautiful fall colors of the trees, and daddy showed me an airplane and a rainbow! Well, I'm getting sleepy again, so I'm going to lay down for a little while. Until next time!!

Fall Is Here

That's right, fall has arrived in Sherbrooke! It's pretty crisp in the mornings, and they say it will just get colder and colder. The leaves are changing and that wonderful smell of fireplaces and hot chocolate is floating in the air.

School has kept us plenty busy, especially with all the activities outside of the classroom. It's fun to practice what we learn with our neighbors and the checkout people at the grocery store. We're still very limited in our communication, but already we've come a long way. We can pick up bits and pieces of the sermon on Sunday mornings, and those familiar hymns and praise songs we know so well in English are helping to build our biblical vocabulary. French is a lot of hard work, but we're slowly making progress, and it's always a good feeling when you can not only understand someone's question, but also respond to it!

Well, Joy is 4 days past her due date, and still no little girl. Looks like she's taking her sweet time! Just for kicks, we watched Father of the Bride Part II last night...but it doesn't really happen like that (or so I'm told). Everything else is ready for her arrival, we're just waiting and walking and waiting some more, and then walking and waiting, until it's time. I have to admit, even I'm getting a little anxious to see her now. But alas, I guess we'll just have to be patient and wait...and walk some more. If nothing has happened by the end of this week, mother nature will probably get a little nudge from the doctor to help things along. Pray that she will come on her own! Either way, sometime this week we should have a little girl in our arms--kind of an interesting feeling! Hopefully it won't be another month before I get to post something!

Beginning of the End? --or-- End of the Beginning?

We had our first official French class today! The first two weeks are phonetics based, so we're learning how to sound out letters and make humorous noises with our throats. I wish you could see it...a bunch of brand new French students all spitting at each other! Our instructor is very patient and understanding with us. It's very nice that our class only runs from 8:30am to noon. The rest of the day is spent practicing, listening, and making conversation with our neighbors and people we meet. We are listening to French CD's and watching French television and attempting to read French newspapers and magazines. We even try to speak to people...although most of the time we never really get passed, "Hello, my name is ____, I'm learning French!" It should be a very interesting semester!

In other exciting news, today is baby Konop's "birthday"....kind of. Joy is now full-term, which apparently means that our little girl could arrive any day. We had a doctor visit yesterday, and everything looks great; baby is right on target, and should be here in a few short weeks. Joy is getting pretty uncomfortable (I tell her I understand, but I really don't. I just rub feet, do the dishes, and make sure everything is ready to go for the big moment). Any last minute parenting advice would be greatly appreciated!

My younger brother is getting married on Saturday, which means I need to be in Virginia by Friday afternoon. We begin the drive as soon as class is out tomorrow, and hopefully we'll make it in time for the rehearsal! I'm guessing it will take at least 15 hours to drive, especially with a full term mommy lounging in the back seat! It will be even more challenging to make it back up to Sherbrooke for classes on Monday morning. We will see what happens; that's a whole lot of traveling in a very short amount of time. We would appreciate your prayers for a safe journey, and blessings on my brother's new marriage.

--Bon Voyage!

Montreal

Joy and I spent this past week in Montreal, about an hour and a half West of Sherbrooke. I was attending a Pratt & Whitney PT6 (turbine engine) maintenance training course. The Cessna 208 Caravan has this engine, as well as the new Kodiak airplane, so I need to learn how to inspect, service, and fix the engine when it acts up. Our instructor was very nice and made the classroom a fun place to learn. Our class was filled with people from all over...the US, Canada, Austria, and Guyana. Other than classes, we did find some time in the evenings to explore Montreal a little. We went to a Botanical Garden/Insect place that was really interesting. Did you know there are bugs in central Africa that are bigger than my hand?! Some beetles are more than six inches long, with pinchers that could wrap around my finger!We came across this sign, and as I read it, I thought, "Boy, I hope I never come across this critter!" Other critters we came across were just enormous! I couldn't believe the size of some of these bugs. Take a look at these pictures!Don't be fooled...this spider would not even come close to fitting in my hand!

We also got to see some nice flowers while we were there too. They had lots and lots of green houses and outdoor gardens to look at.
That's what we did last week. Tomorrow we have registration for language school and some exams to take, and then Tuesday we officially start classes. Thursday we're off for Virginia to attend my younger brother's wedding, and then we settle in for the arrival of baby Girl. Joy is still doing well, and baby is growing right on target.

Pray for our safe travel down to Virginia and back, for school as we try and get back into the swing of things there, and for everything to go well with the delivery whenever she decides to come!

Life in Sherbrooke

It's finally winding down a little and we can take in a deep breath before school begins and our little girl arrives. Yesterday, we spent the entire afternoon with a couple we met from church. Their kids are away at summer camp for the next 2 weeks, so they invited us over for lunch. It was very interesting...the husband spoke Spanish, French, and just a touch of English, and the wife didn't speak any English, just Spanish and French. With our very limited French, and their limited English, it was a little difficult to hold a decent conversation, although we were very animated at times! The couple is actually from Mexico, which is a really good thing because Joy and I both were starting to crave some guacamole! There really aren't any places around here to get mexican food, so our hostess whipped up some homemade chips and guacamole dip for us...mmm! We learned a little of each other's stories, but I think we ended the afternoon with many more questions than our communication skills could get answered! We did find out that many people from church are playing street hockey tonight, so we will try and attend that. No no...Joy won't be playing, she will just watch and cheer from the stands.

Here's one of the only pictures I've been able to take so far. About 1/2 mile from our house there is a wonderful park with a walking trail around a lake. These are some of the many flowers along the path.

The Small Haul

We've finally settled into our new apartment in Canada, and we finally have internet access! Everyone we have met here has been very friendly, although it is sometimes hard to overcome the language barrier. In time we will be able to better communicate with people. Overall it's very nice here. There are many parks and things to do outside. The weather is wonderful...at least right now. It might be a little different in February, but we'll just have to wait and see. We're starting to pick up on a few French words here and there, but most of the time we just wander around! That's it for now...many things to do now that we have internet. Pictures to follow!

The Long Haul ===Part III

Collinsville, Illinois ===> Springboro, Ohio

No pictures to show today, just cornfields and farms to see along this route. We only had 6 hours today, but we're both pretty tired from the whole trip. At least it's a lot cooler here! We made it safely with all of our stuff and both cars! We'll be here until next weekend when we head up to Canada.

The Long Haul === Part II

Tucumcari, New Mexico ===> Collinsville, Illinois

Our second day we drove across New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and over the river in to Illinois. A big highlight (since there really wasn't much else to see) was the largest outdoor cross in the western hemisphere. The sign boasted a "real spiritual experience." It was hot on this day too, but nowhere near the heat of the day before. I can't be too sure, but I looked up the high temperature of a couple places we drove through in the Mojave Desert and they said 124. Not much else happened; there wasn't a whole lot to look at or see. We made it in to Illinois again just after midnight.

The Long Haul==Part I

Ontario, California ===> Tucumcari, New Mexico

We ended up driving both of our cars...one is a 96 Honda Accord, the other is a 93 Toyota Camry. One has air conditioning and no radio, the other has a radio and no air conditioning. My brother and I drew straws for the car we would drive...I got to listen to the radio the whole way. Let me just tell you, it gets REALLY hot in the Mojave Desert! I had a little thermometer in the car that stopped recording at 120 degrees, so I'm not exactly sure how hot it was, but it was almost unbearable. Every time I thought I couldn't stand it anymore, a lonely cloud would form out of nowhere and cover up the sun or the air conditioning would miraculously turn on for 5 minutes of relief. I couldn't help but thank God for those few minutes of relief! We made it safely to our destination for the night around 12:30am and went straight to sleep....

Road Trip!!

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving with my brother to drive out to Ohio. Joy leaves Tuesday morning, and hopefully we'll meet in Ohio the same day. My itinerary is:

Sunday: Ontario, CA ===> Albuquerque, NM

Monday: Albuquerque, NM ===> Tulsa, OK

Tuesday: Tulsa, OK ===> Springboro, OH

I'm hoping to take some pictures and video along the way and share the trip with you. Pray that we have a safe trip out there, and that Joy will have a good flight. We'll be in Ohio for about a week and a half, and then we have another road trip from there to New Jersey where we will be speaking in a Sunday morning church service. From there we will make the trip up to Sherbrooke, Quebec. That's a lot of traveling and a lot of changes in the next few weeks! Thanks for your prayers!!
And just for your viewing pleasure, here's a picture I took of Santa Barbara from the pier.

It's Official Now

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Today we will be cruising at...." My official "uniform" arrived in the mail a few days ago. Now I'm a real live captain and I have the bars to prove it! This will be the uniform I wear in Congo when I'm flying.

All Things Pink

I've been a little overwhelmed lately with flowers and frills, princesses and everything pink. I was outnumbered all week long until Joy's brother Brian showed up with his family for the Fourth of July. And not only that, we've been shopping for baby girl nonstop! Joy had another baby shower with many of her friends down here. We got lots of nice clothes and books.

Aside from that, we spent a lot of time in "Grandma's" pool over the weekend. There was a lot of ganging up on Uncle Chris! We even got to go to Disney Land. It was my first time in the magical kingdom--we had loads of fun! I got to indulge in some cotton candy--mmm!!

Finished Up

Just wanted to let you know we finished our orientation training in Idaho. I was approved for field service in flight as well as maintenance! We drove back to southern California on Friday, and now we are feverishly packing both for Canada and Africa! We are here until the middle of July and then we will be traveling on to Ohio, New Jersey, and finally Sherbrooke, Quebec. I'll get some pictures up here a little later, when I have a little more time. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement! Be looking for our next newsletter, it should be out in the next few weeks.

Breathing Right

We had a long weekend here at MAF...Thursday and Friday were "Family Conference" days so there was no flying, just a long weekend to spend with family. On Saturday we went to a Lamaze class at a hospital in Boise. I'm convinced Joy knew all the material they went over, but me on the other hand...I felt a little overwhelmed at times. One of the interesting things they had some of us husbands do was try on the "Empathy Belly." This suit consisted of a gallon pack of water, a 10 lb sandbag and two lead cannon balls. Overall it weighed about 40 lbs and we had to get a picture of our bellies. I'm not sure it exactly portrayed being pregnant, but it was interesting nonetheless!

"Approved"

That's right! I've been approved by the Maintenance Training department for field service. I finished up my last day of maintenance on Tuesday with the OK from my instructors to work on MAF airplanes overseas! I could definitely tell I was a little out of practice and a bit rusty in a few areas--after all, I haven't worked on an airplane for quite a while. Some of you may be thinking to yourselves, "Boy, Chris really goes through a lot of technical training to be a missionary, doesn't Joy have any training that she goes through?" Well, that's a wonderful point! And the answer is YES. On Monday, Joy spent the whole afternoon learning to cook entirely from scratch! She worked feverishly on a huge chicken potpie. Here she's diligently working the edges of the crust before baking it. I can't pronounce all the ingredients that went into that pie, but let me tell you...it was GOOOOOD!! Joy is a fantastic cook, and I have no doubt that one day all this yummy food will catch up with me!

To the left is the finished product, two chicken potpies, lots of dinner rolls, and a huge bowl of exotic fruits. Although in Africa, I don't think they will be all that exotic. Interestingly enough, the lovely lady on the left was our ministry partnership counselor; she guided us through the process of raising our ministry support for the past 10 months.

Since Wednesday, I have transitioned from maintenance to flight training. Just like the maintenance, I can tell I'm a little rusty, but it's coming back quick. I've been pretty sick the past two days, but today I felt much better, and it showed in my flying. So far I have put to good practice many of the principles we learned in ground school over a month ago. Hopefully by early next week I will have some flying pictures and maybe even some video up for you to see what it's all about. Have a wonderful weekend!

Header Photo

I can't remember if I explained the header photo before or not, so I'll just do it now. The airplane pictured is actually THE one that I will be flying when we eventually get to Congo. It is set up exactly the same as the airplane I flew when we were in the ServantWings program. 9Q-CUI I'm sure will become a very intimate friend and take me safely over many many miles of dense jungle so the love of Christ can be spread!

"Strutting" Around

Here's what I was up to on Friday. We took the nose strut off the airplane, disassembled and cleaned it, and replaced a bunch of o-rings. The strut works much the same way a shock absorber does on a car...it absorbs shock. And because MAF operates on pretty rough and dirty airstrips all the time, they require a little more TLC and attention. It can be a pretty dirty and and nasty job unless you do it right. In the picture, all I'm really doing is sticking my hand up in the "tunnel" for theatrical effect. I have two more days of maintenance before I start flying on Wednesday. Hopefully I'll be able to get some good pictures and even a little video so you can have a better idea of what we do here and why we do it. The good thing is that I'm learning a lot and it's been a great reveiw for me as well.

Baby Showers, Alternators, and Long Walks

This past weekend Joy and I drove 7 hours to Vancouver, Washington, to attend our church there. They were kind enough to throw Joy a baby shower--we got lots of wonderful gifts and useful items for our little girl--we were so blessed! We were also blessed by a surprise offering the church collected for us on Sunday morning! We stayed in Vancouver until Monday morning and headed back to Nampa with a carload of baby things.
Speaking of babies...here's ours! This is the latest picture of our baby girl...she's so cute already! Both mom and baby are doing just fine, and I can even feel her doing flips and kicks and punches in there!

I'm still working on the shop floor until Wednesday; here I'm inspecting a magneto, which is an engine accessory that provides the electricity to fire the spark plugs. Without it, the engine would not run. Right now I'm working on overhauling an alternator, and just like a car, it provides the electricity to run all the electrical systems in an airplane. In fact, the alternator I'm working on right now says "Ford" on it!

We're keeping ourselves busy with plenty of training and paperwork. Well, time for dinner, yum yum!

Think Pink

That's the name of the game--pink clothes, pink shoes, pink hats, pink bed, pink blankets, pink photo albums.... That's right, our latest visit to the doctor indicated that a baby girl is on her way! Everything looks great so far; mommy and baby are both healthy. She definitely looks like a mover...the ultrasound technician was chasing her all over Joy's belly trying to get pictures for the doctor!

After the doctor visit, Joy's mom got us a treat to celebrate. Don't worry, they're only chocolate! We're both really excited and thankful that things are going well as we anticipate the arrival of our little girl!

Training is going well, I've moved on from classes to hands-on experience inspecting, fixing, and troubleshooting MAF's training airplanes. I have good incentive to do a thorough job as these airplanes are the ones I will be flying in a few short weeks! Joy is keeping busy with paperwork, phone calls, and plenty of naps. This weekend we are heading over to Vancouver, Washington, where we used to live so we can visit the church we used to go to and see some friends. Pray for safe travel and continued good health for all three of us! Our support is still slowly coming in even as we have shifted gears a little bit. We're now a little over 80% in both monthly and outgoing support, so we're getting there! We are always so excited to see how God works.

P.S. I'll post a few ultrasound pictures in the near future!

Technical Training

Here's a photo of our current "standardization" (as MAF calls it) group along with the MAF maintenance instructors and Instructor Pilots. Of course I am in the lower left and next to me is a young man from MAF's UK branch. Next to him in the white shirt is an Instructor Pilot. From Left to Right in the back row are several more maintenance instructors and instructor pilots...except for the last two. In the black is Noel, who will be serving in Asia, and next to him in the blue shirt is a pilot from MAF's Canada branch. Clear as mud?!

I spent last week in class going through flight ground school. We went over many subjects related to flight theory and operations in general, as well as things very specific to MAF operations. We learned about MAF's operating procedures and regulations...and I'll soon get the chance to put all this new knowledge to the test with a couple weeks of flying. For now I'm sitting in maintenance ground school classes taking an in depth look at the Cessna 206 how it works and how to maintain it. The next two weeks I'll be practicing and learning in the shop before I get to do the flying!

What's really exciting is that a week from today we will be going to the doctor for an ultrasound. We'll get to see our little bundle and learn if it's a she or a he! Pray that everything will go well with the doctor visit!

Pictures

This is a photo from the MAF Dedication ceremony for the new Kodiak 100 airplane. More than 1,000 folks showed up to dedicate this new airplane to the Lord as it moves on for service in Indonesia.


Right at the tail end of the ceremony, it started to pour. As Joy and I were walking back to our apartment after it stopped raining, I took this picture of a tree in bloom. Surprisingly, it has rained a lot since we've been here. I guess we're just used to Portland, where it drizzles all the time. Yesterday it rained really hard, and there was thunder and lightning to accompany it!


Here are Joy and I along with one of our classmates, leading worship for chapel at MAF. Our class shared stories with the folks at MAF about how God has been faithful to us in the process of raising our ministry support.


And here we are receiving a copy of The Message during our "commissioning" chapel, where we are officially transferred from the Personnel dept. to the Operations dept. Lots of fun stuff! Tomorrow I begin the technical orientation training...i.e. the maintenance and flying! I'm pretty excited--it's been a while since I worked on an airplane, and even longer since I actually flew one!

Right now we are at 79% in both our monthly and outgoing accounts! We are really excited about that, but before we can leave for Africa, both of those accounts need to be fully funded. Pray for me as I learn MAF's procedures and regulations, and for safety as I fly and fix airplanes. Pray for Joy and the pregnancy. And pray that God will be glorified in all that we do!

Lots to Tell You

We've completed "non-technical" orientation as of today! Our classes on culture and many other things have come to a close. Now I am moving on to "technical" orientation, where I will go through maintenance and flight courses to further sharpen my skills and knowledge as a pilot/mechanic. I'm looking forward to this phase of training, mostly because I haven't touched an airplane in over a year! So I'm getting pretty anxious to start fixing and flying again. During this time Joy doesn't have any formal obligations or classes, but that doesn't mean she won't be busy! She will have her hands full planning the arrival of our little one, completing paperwork, and making lots of phone calls. Seems there is a lot of "behind the scenes" work that needs to happen for us to go overseas!

Last weekend, a few families went out to go hiking. And this weekend, we got the privilege of attending a dedication for the new Kodiak airplane that MAF received. The public was invited to the event, so there were quite a few people here.

Stay tuned for some pictures of the past few weeks, I'll post them up shortly!

More Training

Well, for those of you who didn't know it, we finally made the trip to Nampa and MAF headquarters. And we got our stolen car back too! I'll try and keep this short because I'm not feeling all that great and I want to go to bed, but I'll share a few pictures with you to show you what we've been up to here for the past 4 days.


Here I am with my brand new flight helmet. All MAF pilots are required to wear this helmet when they are flying a Cessna 206 (6 passenger). It's surprisingly comfortable and it will be a great tool for using overseas!

And here we are in class, learning about adapting to the cultures we will soon find ourselves in! Every couple in this room will interact and serve with a different culture. We will literally soon find ourselves all over the world!

A Day At The Zoo

Friday was Joy's birthday, and we celebrated by going to the San Diego Zoo. I took a lot of pictures, and I'd like to share some with you.

The zoo had a section called the Ituri Forest, which just happens to be very close to where we will be living in Congo. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time there, looking at the animals and reading the signs. This is a monkey.
This is an interesting duck...not really a zoo specimen, but pretty colors nonetheless.

Here's a bouquet of pretty flowers that are found in the Congo's Ituri Forest. I like flowers--Joy does too!

Here's a male Mountain Gorilla. Pretty interesting. These guys are found in the Congo rainforest.

This peacock started showing off all his feathers, but only after a bunch of people pulled out their cameras...no joking!

And a rhino taking a snooze in the afternoon sun.