I love it when zoos run contests to name the newest babies … from monkeys to elephants, it’s always a lot of fun for me to try to come up with a catchy, cute name.

I remember several years ago that I was devastated when the name Stretch that I picked for a baby giraffe wasn’t chosen!  Didn’t the National Zoo have a name contest for the baby pandas born in captivity?  My own nominees - Ping and Pong - were ignored.  No surprise those are the names I came up with when you consider my cat’s name is Kitty.

Sadly, the baby pandas returned to China with their Mom today as part of the agreement between the zoo and the foreign giant.  China’s newest citizens were greeted with lots of bamboo and lots of cameras.

We’ll miss you, Mei Lan and Tai Shan.  Have a happy life.