• What I Learned Over Summer Vacation

  Filed under A Dude's Guide to Kids
  Aug 2

  by Richard

  A couple of weeks ago, Zippy the Monkey Boy went to a special sleep-away camp at the University of North Carolina Wilmington for budding marine biologists and marine scientists. He was thrilled. He’s wanted to be a marine biologist since he was 2 years old and he hasn’t wavered since.

  So, yeah. His mom and I thought it would be a great experience for him to have. He’d get a chance to rub elbows with actual marine scientists, do some actual research and meet other kids with similar interests from around the country.

  We expected him to come home brimming with urgent messages, cool facts and an even more burning desire to see his life spread before him off the bow of a boat.

  Begin digression. While at the camp the little dudes and dudettes studied a little Linnaean classification. That’s the system by which scientists break down what families and species different animals and plants belong to. You know, mankind is known as homo sapiens, or thinking man.  End digression.

  So, that’s what we thought we’d have: a Zippy the Monkey Boy who was bouncing off the walls and eager to learn. When I picked him up, I asked him what was the coolest thing that he’d learned.

  “Did you know,” he asked, “that the scientific classification for the mountain gorilla is gorilla gorilla gorilla?”

  Me: Um, no.

  Him: It is.

  Me: What else did you learn?

  Him: Ihuengena. You know?

  Me: Beats head against steering wheel.

  • Spread the word, dude!

  Tags: A Dude's Guide to Kids, Animals, Animals And Plants, Bouncing Off The Walls, Burning Desire, camp, Cool Facts, dude, Dude's, Dudette, Dudettes, Gorilla, Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla, kids, Linnaean Classification, little dude, Man, Marine Biologist, Marine Biologists, Marine Scientists, mom, Monkey Boy, Mountain Gorilla, North Carolina, North Carolina Wilmington, Plants, research, richard, Scientists, search, sleep, Steering Wheel, summer, Summer Vacation, Thinking Man, University Of North Carolina, University Of North Carolina Wilmington, Urgent Messages, vacation, Zippy The Monkey
  
  Tagged as: Animals, Animals And Plants, Bouncing Off The Walls, Burning Desire, camp, Cool Facts, dude, Dude's, Dudette, Dudettes, Gorilla, Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla, kids, Linnaean Classification, little dude, Man, Marine Biologist, Marine Biologists, Marine Scientists, mom, Monkey Boy, Mountain Gorilla, North Carolina, North Carolina Wilmington, Plants, research, richard, Scientists, search, sleep, Steering Wheel, summer, Summer Vacation, Thinking Man, University Of North Carolina, University Of North Carolina Wilmington, Urgent Messages, vacation, Zippy The Monkey
  
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