Zoo Days

We're really blessed to have a great zoo only five minutes from our house. When the kids were little, I always needed to go with someone else because they'd both run off in two different directions and it would exhaust me. Now, it's still tiring when we get home, but it's much more doable.

Now, I actually prefer going just by my myself or with Steve to the zoo. We can go wherever we want to and take our time.

Jared had so much fun playing with these African dogs. The dog would rub his face against the glass while Jared did the same. If I wasn't suffering so much from these silly allergies, I wouldn't have minded opening up that glass and taking a dog home with us.

We did a spur of the moment zoo trip one Sunday afternoon after church. With our yearly pass we get one free dolphin show and one free tram ride. We already used the dolphin show last year, so we used the tram ride this visit. The tram stops four times, and you can get on and off as many times as you want for the day.

First stop was the children's zoo and brushing the goats.

We stayed on the tram the next stop and took pictures.

We went to the reptile and bird houses on the third stop.  I don't know how much we'll go during the summer because it gets extremely crowded then, but I'm really excited to go a lot in the early fall when almost everyone else is in school. Yeah!

Wild Animal Safari Park

Last post I wrote about our whale watching  trip and how unbelievably inexpensive it was for all we were able to do. Well, I can't say the same about Wild Animal Safari Park in San Diego. It cost $110 for all four of us and that was WITH a coupon! The zoo is very spread out so you have to walk quite a ways between exhibits. So it's walk, walk, walk, walk, see an animal, walk, walk, walk, walk.

Maybe because we practically live next door to a world famous zoo where we live (the Brookfield Zoo), we weren't that impressed. Yes, the design was pretty and it was fun to see the animals we saw, but we could have see the same animals and more at home. But for people who don't live next to a great zoo, I think (if you can afford it!) you'd like spending the day here.

Actually, what the kids enjoyed most was finding little caves and places to crawl into. Even Steve crawled in with them, which didn't make him popular with the rest of the parents who now felt like they had to crawl in too with their kids.

The kid's also enjoyed just feeding the ducks with some food we bought for a quarter (I'm telling ya, it's the least expensive things that kid's like most!).

We ended the day with the safari ride, what I thought would make this zoo different than ours at home. You basically take a tram ride around some animal habitats. I guess it's pretty cool to see animals more out in the open than in their usual cages, but you have to pay around $250 for a family of four to get close up to the animals, which we weren't going to do.

But, it was a day we were together, and we'll always have those memories, so how can I complain about that?

Day Out with Grammy Part 2

After a long day downtown, we drove back home. The kids had a nice rest in the car, while I actually was able to talk with my mom without being interrupted every thirty seconds. I love, love, love the kids, but their energy and conversations wipe me out most of the time. We had planned to pick up a chicken dinner at Jewel for dinner, but we weren't quite hungry yet. By the time we drove down to the Riverwalk area, the kids were close to waking up.

We went down a path I've never been down before and came to a really pretty area by the river. I love how we keep doing that...discovering new places within just a mile of our house. I get so anxious to travel and explore new places (so much that I'm working on planning a year long round-the-world trip for us in the future), that I forget that there are still many places near my own house that I have yet to explore.

We came down to this section of the river because my mom had ridden her bike down here and saw a large area filled with clam shells. Sure enough, the ground near the river was littered with them.

There were different varieties of shells. The kids helped fill the camera bag, and we decided to use them soon in some kind of art project.

Later that evening, after our chicken dinner, we watched The Incredible Mr. Limpet before crashing into bed.

I've included the above picture of the rhinoceros because it was one of only two animals we saw at the zoo the following day, even though we were there for close to three hours. What did we do in the meantime? Mostly this...

It's amazing to me what fascinates kids. We're in this place with awesome animals to look at and the kids would rather collect acorns and thrash away at the leaves with sticks. Not that I'm complaining. I was able to sit on a bench with my mom and cheer them on instead of traipsing all over the zoo, which was a good thing since I had bad allergies that day.

We did pass through a new bison area, but they must have been hiding around some hill because we didn't seen any. It was cool to stand next to a life-sized picture of the bison and see how tall you were compared to it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the zoo's playground. The found several new friends, and once again I had a relaxing time chatting with my mom. During lunch, we had a crowd of geese begging us for food. We fed them, of course, and only felt a little guilty when we pass the "Don't feed the geese" sign when we walked out. At least they only had wheat bread and apples from us instead of nachos and chips.

The kids had a spin on the carousel once before we headed back to the car and on our way to great-grandma and Pappa's birthday party. I had to include this picture of Jared next to a car trunk we passed. Kind of difficult to explain to a four year old why some people find it funny to drive with a pretend foot covered in pretend blood hanging out the back of their car trunk.

Hangin' at the Zoo

While the announcement I'm about to make may not sound that earth-shattering, it is a huge breakthrough for me. This August I took the kids to the zoo for the first time by myself. Didn't meet anyone or go with anyone. Just did it by myself.

See, up until now it's been almost impossible for me to go by myself because the kids want to take off running away from me when we're in public. Not that they still don't do this, but it's much, much better than it was a year ago. We haven't used a stroller since the kids were 20 months because they don't take confinement too well. (Strangely, enough, they do great with very long car trips, though. I think seeing other people walking around and them not being able to is what gets to them.)

I was expecting them to run off from me most the time, but to my utter shock and amazement, we all had a great time!

We first headed to the children's zoo, mainly because it's a smaller area, and I thought if they did run off, it would be easier to catch them. They wanted to go straight to the goats, so that's what we did.

We went to the hen house to see if we'd catch any chicks in the process of hatching, but no luck today. One of the workers was really kind to take one of the newly hatched chicks out for the kids to pet, although after participating in the farm program and carrying their own chicks and ducklings all over the farm by themselves, petting this chick didn't leave much of an impressions on them.

Actually one of the things Jared liked most about the trip was the bathroom. He was SO excited to see a sink that was "just my size." 

We stayed such a long time in the children's farm area that we had to head straight home. We paused for some quick funny pictures on the way out and....

...the requisite picture on the lion, and....

...they each used allowance money to buy masks. Really from the moment we passed by the shop on the way in to the zoo, Jared couldn't stop talking about buying his dinosaur mask. Thankfully, I convinced him to buy it on the way out so we wouldn't have to carry it around all afternoon.

I'm so excited we had such a great afternoon together. The zoo is just a five minute drive from the house, so it will make a great outing for when we want to go out and do something during the week with just the three of us.

 

Legos & Dolphins @ Brookfield Zoo

We didn't know beforehand that there would be a Lego exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo, but it was a welcome surprise.  We actually spent more time here than looking at animals.

It's absolutely amazing at what people have been able to make out of Legos. And to think that someone gets paid to do it!

We bought a membership today which entitles us to four tickets to a dolphin show, so we decided to see the show today ( which was really on the 10th). I didn't realize how crowded it would be or how we would have to stand in line a long time in the hot sun, but we were able to get a good seat in the center.

We've seen one other dolphin show at the Shedd Aquarium which cost us about $55 for the family and was more about a theatrical experience than really seeing the animals. For $13 our whole family sat much closer to the tank, saw more of the dolphins and learned a lot more for much less than half the cost of the Shedd.

I really wish I had a better camera because I would have been able to take some incredible pictures. Jared fell asleep in Steve's arms halfway through the show (funny, he did the same at the Shedd, too!), but Alexa really enjoyed the show.

After the show, the kids watched the dolphins in the underwater viewing tank while I headed to the bathroom. The sea lions were right next door, so Alexa and I watched them glide around for a while. They'd swim right up to the glass, so you could literally get nose-to-nose with them if you wanted to.

Alexa wanted to look at the grizzly bears, but we found out they moved them to a new location on the other side of the zoo. It really was hot, and we were sweaty and tired, so we just decided to come back another day for that. Since we live only a five minute's drive from this zoo, we can come for only an hour and not feel bad about it! I'm so looking forward to coming back many times over the next year.

Father's Day @ Phillip's Park Zoo in Aurora

With all the rushing around we did yesterday for presents, grocery shopping, attending a neighbors' birthday party, and how cranky the kids were because of it, I wasn't sure how this Father's Day would turn out. Despite ME being grumpy today, it turned out much better than I'd thought.

The day before I had taken the kids out with me to Borders to buy Steve a book on investing in real estate. It had been a crazy week with the cousins in town. I hate to leave things to the last minute, which added to my stress level. Since I didn't have the exact title I wanted, I felt so rushed to grab the first book that looked halfway decent before the kids started going crazy in the store. Jared wanted to find Batman books, and I said no. I really just wanted to get the shopping over with. Then, I had to use the bathroom, and the kids were stressing me so much in there, with crawling under the other stalls and singing on the top of their lungs. Then when we stopped to pick out cards, they wanted to be in different aisles, buy all the cards that made music, and took forever to pick out a card for Steve. I hate, hate, hate when I rush them. I feel bad, they feel bad, and I can just feel the ulcers forming in my stomach. But when you look at all the things that need to get finished in a day, things that truly seem necessary, it's so hard to remember not to let your stress level get out of control, to breathe, and take time out for the seemingly frivolous things in life.  

We all went to church in the morning, attempted to have the kids go to their Sunday School class, then resigned ourselves to them sitting with us during the service. Surprisingly, they weren't as crazy as I thought they'd be. They're still a bit traumatized from the Sunday School class in Missouri, so they might just be sitting with us for awhile.

We grabbed some hot dogs, headed home, ate, had the kids write something in the cards they bought for Steve yesterday, and wrap up the book and coffee we bought for Steve. The kids love anything to do with presents, and are actually getting better at not giving away what the present is before the person has a chance to open their gift!

A few hours later, we headed to Phillips Park in Aurora, with Steve's parents and younger sister following us, to meet up with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew, brother, parents and grandmother.

Before we could even find a picnic table, the kids were all over the playground equipment. Soon after my parents arrived, I had to get to a bathroom, so Steve and I took the kids on a walk to the main building next to the splash park. Phillips Park is really an incredible place to go with your family. Everything is free there, including a small splash park, loads of playground equipment, acres of gardens and picnic areas, and a small zoo.

Steve and the kids went on to the zoo area while I finished up in the bathroom. When I caught up with them, they were so excited to show me the cougar they spotted.

While it was awesome to literally come nose to nose with the huge animal when he slinked up to the glass, I mostly felt bad he was trapped in such a small space.

Here's some other animals at the park: bald eagles, otters, turkeys, wolves, elk, ducks and geese, and a reptile house.

Before we had to leave to pack for Minnesota the next day, we gave our fathers their gifts. We gave Steve's dad a new pair of sandals....

...and my dad a bag of candy.

Ok, so some of you are probably wondering what my dad did to deserve such a cheap father's day present. All three of us kids pitched in and gave our parents a combined gift on Mother's Day last month- tickets to see the Million Dollar Quartet.

It's been a good few weeks of being with extended family a lot, but Steve and I and the kids are so ready to have time with just our immediate family. Do you have your own limit of just how much time you can spend with others before wanting to get away by yourself?