Hippo New Year!

Happy Hippo New Year, Everybody!!!


Even though I'm quite the party animal, I took a little time out to think about some New Year's resolutions. Here's my list:

1. I resolve to keep up my cute, adorable, and fuzzy exterior
2. I resolve to take good care of my humans
3. I resolve to encourage everyone to have a hippo friend!
4. I resolve to catch up on blogging about my 2008 adventures.
5. I resolve to blog about my 2009 adventures
6. I resolve to eat more cookies.

I think I can keep these resolutions--especially the cookie one. Anyone else have some resolutions (or cookies) to share?


Just one more from me:

7. I resolve to stay awake all the way through my next party!

Dr. Hippo

Some of you might have noticed my lengthy absence this month. Duty called and I donned my doctor duds to take care of one of my humans following his surgery.



Now that he is home, I can take better care of him. A prescription for milk and cookies-and plenty of hippo supervision-is just what the doctor ordered for a speedy recovery!



Take two (cookies--not hippos!) and call me in the morning.

H(ipp)O, H(ipp)O, H(ipp)O! Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to Hippofans everywhere! I hope everyone got everything they wanted! I know my stocking was full.



I get really into holidays--especially Christmas. I even got my very own Santa suit this year! Here I am with a little friend.




Maybe I can even be one of Santa's Little Helpers next year!

This Much

Hippo Loves You!

The Discovery of Pumpkin Pie

You mean pumpkins come in pie form and I'm only learning about this now?!

Storytime

Hazel and the Crew Reading
Originally uploaded by hazel_hippo

When the winds turn cold and snow begins to hide the grass, it's a good time to stay in a cozy place and read stories.

Hippo's friend Hazel shared this photo of her reading to some fluffy friends. She must be a very good reader, because her personal penguin seems very interested.

I just hope the choice of reading material, Hippos Go Berserk!, doesn't indicate a plan that might land them all on Santa's naughty list this year.

Hippo Thanksgiving!

Just a few of the many, many things I am thankful for:

Warm bed and a remote


Warm friends


Road Trips!


Hats (especially my 2 sombreros!)


Hot Chocolate


Being a hippo!


and, of course, hippo-lovers, hippo caretakers, and my adoring hippo fans!

Happy Hippo Thanksgiving!

Holly

Hippo's new friend Holly sent holiday greetings from snowy Ann Arbor, Michigan.

She wanted to show Hippo what the University of Michigan campus looks like in cold weather. There's a definite lack of salsa dancing hippopotamuses on the plaza.

But Triton and the kids are still playing in the fountain.

Holly tried to catch snowflakes on her tongue.

Then she warmed up with a fresh Mexican lunch.

Holly nuzzled a puma on the way into the Exhibit Museum of Natural History.

There she learned how hippopotamuses are related to whales. An animal called Artiodactyl began adapting to an aquatic habitat 55 million years ago. Some of its descendants evolved into swimming hunters which later became whales and dolphins. Others evolved into wading grazers like the hippopotamus.

Holly is a beautiful example of Hippopotamus amphibius.

She left an impression on Ann Arbor by making hippo prints in the snow.

Lucky Baby Hippo

I was reading the news, and I came across this article about a very lucky and adorable baby Pygmy Hippo!



Monifa, whose name means "I am lucky" in Nigerian, was born after a very difficult breach birth, and might have died if the dedicated staff at the Taronga Zoo in Australia hadn't stepped in. They stayed with her around the clock keeping her from getting lonely and scared, keeping her safe, teaching her to eat (very important for a growing hippo!), and teaching her to walk--all the things good Hippo parents do for their Hippo kids.

She is still tiny, but she is now double her birth size and playful. She really seems to enjoy bathtime, and even does somersaults in the water!



She is really cute, but I bet she'll be embarrassed by those baby bathtime pictures when she is older. You can see more cute baby pictures here

I'm just glad nobody took pictures of me taking a bath! ...or maybe they did!



How humiliating.

Dinnertime

This is what dinnertime looks like at my house whenever I serve Hippo's favorite meal: melon ball salad, spaghetti with meatballs, peas, and malted milk balls.

Four Presidents

One of Hippo's favorite activities is to go on trips and learn about history. So in late September we drove down to three historic sites in southern Virginia: Montpelier, Charlottesville, and Fredericksburg.

Montpelier was the home of President James Madison, Father of the Constitution.

A short, scenic drive away is the University of Virginia which was founded by President Thomas Jefferson.

We spent the night in the city of Fredericksburg. A young George Washington lived nearby and later his mother moved to the city. They even named a school after her – the University of Mary Washington. Today they have pretty horses.

All the touring made Hippo thirsty, so he double-pawed some historic soda.

The sky turned dark and stormy while Hippo was strolling around Fredericksburg looking for old houses and statues. Just as he started skedaddling to dinner to avoid the downpour he heard a massive cheer and a familiar voice in the distance.

It was a campaign rally for Barack Obama at Mary Washington and The Big Picture shared what Hippo was too far away to see. It was very exciting to encounter four presidents on one trip!

Googly Tiny

Hippo heard a rustling from his sack of Halloween candy. His first thought was that maybe someone dropped a pet in his sack while he was out trick-or-treating. A penguin?! Then he thought that it was more probable that he had accidently attracted our house hippo with peanut butter cups.

When he opened the sack he found the real explanation. Tiny had crawled in to snack on Nerds and Crunches. He came zooming out, spreading a confetti of wrapper fragments, chocolate crumbs, and brightly colored sugar pellets across the room.

Hippo Googled Himself

Sometimes I get a little carried away. I couldn't decide what to be for Halloween, so I did what any tech-savvy hippo would do – I Googled myself.


Um... That does have something to do with Googly eyes, right?

It was the perfect costume! I went trick or treating and got a big bag of chocolate Googly Eyes!

Happy Hippo Halloween Everybody!

Trick or Treat?

When these guys knock on your door and ask "Trick or Treat?"which would you choose?







Now we know why Hippo eyed that Zoolights pumpkin so fondly.

What to be for Halloween

Halloween is almost here, and Hippo STILL can't decide what to wear trick-or-treating.

Pumpkins are festive, but it is so embarrassing when everyone else shows up dressed the same.

Hippo likes 'noceroses, but this 'noceros costume looks more friendly than scary. It also makes it hard to breathe!

Groucho glasses are always funny. But Hippo wants to make sure his friends know that it's him ringing the doorbell. This might be too good a disguise.

Maybe Hippo should be a witch and take a friendly cat with him to help sniff out the best treats. Or maybe Hippo doesn't have to decide. He could go around the block once in each costume – nobody will know it's him!

Hipboopotamus

As October ripens, the sun is setting sooner and the air is turning chillier. That means long nights of howling wind and clanking radiators. So I didn't think much when my reading was interrupted by clanks and howls last night.

But the ruckus was accompanied by an eerie glow down the hallway, so I decided to investigate. There I was startled to see this frightening apparition!


Usually Hippo would be squeezing my hand hard in such a scary situation. But he was nowhere to be seen, so he must have been hiding safely under a blanket.

Yummy

Happy pumpkin to you,
Happy pumpkin to you,
Happy pumpkin dear hippo!
Happy pumpkin to you.

Cute Little Companion

When Hippo is traveling or just playing tourist around town, he likes to bring along his stuffed hippopotamus, Tiny.

Tiny is very comforting. He is also a good model to pose in pictures while Hippo documents his travels. Sometimes he seems to take on a life of his own.

Tiny enjoys all the exciting things that Hippo shows him. And Hippo gets more adventurous when he has Tiny to entertain.

It's a little embarrassing when Hippo goes through a security check and has to reveal the stuffed animal in his backpack. But the screeners usually just smile and let him through.