Everyone Needs a Day Like This

I'm hoping to get a few things posted on here today! My "to-do" list is already filling up starting with a busy, sports-filled morning so we'll see ;) But! I'm up early since a certain wriggly someone crawled in our bed many times last night! I finally gave up trying to get her into her own bed and let her have mine ;) She's not a good bed-sharer!

Anyway...we'll start with yesterday. We went to the zoo with friends! We frequent our fantastic zoo often but tend to avoid it a bit in the summer. Not only is it way too hot to wander around to our heart's content but also it's crowded. Crowded means sharing and not spending time observing. You have to move to let the next group take a peek. We don't mind sharing so much but we really prefer taking our time and not being rushed. And that's what we did yesterday! We lingered where they wanted to linger and moved on when they were ready.

We were running a bit late so we met up with everyone at Asia. The monkeys were being quite entertaining, much to everyone's delight!

Of course we had to spend a few minutes here:

Still completely loving the tigers ;)

After that we headed to the polar bears. Unfortunately, they were not being as engaging as they were when we saw them back in the summer but the exhibit as a whole is so much fun! Since it wasn't horribly crowded, we finally got around to seeing the rest and spent quite a bit of time looking around.

Erin and Nicholas in the underwater viewing. No polar bears to be found :(  Lots of playing though!

Little cuties trapped under the ice!

Kyle and Megan. How many big brothers does this girl need? She's stealing them from other little girls now!

Much to Brandon's delight, we headed to the reptile house from here. He cannot visit the zoo without peeking in on the yucky snakes! See evidence below:

Looks like Zack has the same fasination!

We headed to Australia after that. A couple of little cuties were starting to get tired! We'd pretty much walked from one end of the zoo to the other!

Thanks for bringing that wonderful wagon Margot! What a great idea!

We sat for quite a while again watching the monkeys (in the exhibit and out ;)) and enjoying the company of our friends while they all snacked. how much food does it take to get eleven kids through the zoo?? ALOT!

We had a great view while we rested:

Nick took this one:

He was so excited to use the zoom! I was completely nervous that he might drop my camera. I would have cried for sure.

The whole gang minus adults:

We had so much fun! Thank you Angie and Margot for going with us! Jenny and Angi, you guys were missed. I hope your kids get better soon! There's still plenty of time to get to the zoo again before the cold weather!

The Rest of the Day

I'm having so much fun looking at these zoo pictures! It was really a fun day (in spite of the crowds)! Jenny, thank you for inviting  us! Angi, I'm glad you didn't turn around in the parking lot and go home!

After we saw those amazing polar bears, we headed to find a good place for lunch. We all packed so at least we didn't have to stand in those lines! We found a nice shadey spot with a little playground:

And on the way there we saw some cute ducks and a big, fat frog!

Then it was off to see the manatee where I didn't get ANY pictures because I was too busy trying to find Nicholas! GAH!

Climbing the walls...literally ;)

From there, we went to the reptile house. No matter how often we go to the zoo, we must go to the reptile house. Luckily, our friends feel the same :)

There was a snake to touch.

Brandon and Megan touched it too but I got no pictures of that because right after this my battery died :( Then I had to literally drag our kids out of that place! I think they could stay there all day long. Maybe this fall :)

The Zoo in June

Our fantastic zoo has a new exhibit...polar bears! We've been planning to get up there to see them, but time, as usual, has not been my friend ;) So when my friend, Jenny, invited us to go along with her gang yesterday, we were excited!

Let me just say, I don't think I've ever seen the zoo that busy! The crowds were insane! Of course, the worst was by the new polar bears, but, really, it was just a mass of people everywhere we went! And even though our kids go to the zoo often and even though we see the same animals every time (GAH!) they  have trouble walking by without lingering and reading the information and watching to see what that animal will do. I found myself scooting them along many times saying, "We'll come back when it's not so busy. Keep moving!". I'm not used to sharing our zoo with that many people!

Anyway, since I took a massive amount of pictures of the polar bears, I thought I'd break this post up a bit. ;) They were really fun to watch! Totally entertaining! (I can't wait to head back this fall when we can sit and watch them!)

We took the ramp to the underwater viewing first. It looked the least crowded. We were wrong, of course ;) But! It was worth it!

This picture shows a tiny bit of what the crowds were like. Everyone just crammed in!

It was a bit weird to watch her swim over-head like that!

She lunged for some fish and the crowd gasped! It was so funny!

Then we went up top to see whatever we could see from there:

There was a zoo employee who happened to wander over to us as we were watching and told us that they are twin sisters. The one in the water, Anana, is more of an entertainer. She loves swimming around and people-watching ;) The other one, Aurora, is a bit more reserved, but she ended up putting on quite a show for us too! As we were watching her, she stood up and started walking backwards. The zoo lady said she likes to backup like that before she dives into the water so at that point, all eyes were on her! She took off running up to the edge, then she stopped! She did that like seven or eight times, teasing us! Then, she finally dove in:

Yay! It was fun to see.

About that time, our friends showed up and we got to watch them a bit longer before we wandered off in search of an area to have our lunch that wasn't so crowed! Before we left, Angi organized a group shot:

There's a couple of stroller-bound little guys missing, but with those crowds, they were not released!

Fun in the Sun!

What a gorgeous day it was! We've been very lucky lately in the weather department!

Brandon had a book club meeting today (more on that in a second) so we decided to head over early and visit the zoo for a bit! Since we were planning a fairly short trip, I asked the kids for their number one destination in there so we'd make sure to head there first. Asia Quest won! Tigers and monkeys...that seems to satisfy everyone :)

The monkeys were performing all kinds of acrobatics for us:
The kids were loving them!
Until they got a little too "frisky". Then it was time to go see the tigers ;) (Good grief! Get a room!)

The tiger was taking a nap today so we moved on to the lion who did not disappoint! He was so close!
And then guess what we saw?!? The cubs!
Can you see him? He was looking right at me! Megan really wanted to bring him home :)

The obligatory picture on one of the statues :)
And of course we had to visit the aquarium:
They seriously could watch the fish for a very long time.

After that, Brandon went to my friend, Carla's house for a discussion of the book, Cracker, with her book club. This was his first time and he had so much fun! Carla, thank you for having this! We will be back for the next one for sure ;) (It was also so nice to visit with you for a bit today!)

I'm hoping this weather sticks around for a while! It's so much more fun getting out for all these great things when the sun is out and we don't have to wear all our winter gear!

Stepping Out in the Winter

I'm not a winter person at all. I hate the cold, I hate wearing a coat (it makes me very claustrophobic), and I hate trying to find everyone's winter things and get out the door! That's the worst! I love summer when we can all just slide on our flip-flops and out we go! Now it takes FOREVER to get out the door right now! But, last Friday, in an effort to make good on the promise I made last month, I took the kids to the zoo! I had signed the boys up for a class and planned some one-on-one time with Megan.

We went early so the boys could see some of the zoo before their class. When we went to the zoo for the lights, it was completely packed. It was hard for them to see their favorite animals. You couldn't even get in the reptile building at all! Brandon was so disappointed. We did go to the tiger area but it was too crowded to spend much time there.

This time, though, it was EMPTY! We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves! So, I indulged them. We went where they wanted and spent as much time as they wanted. It was so fun to see the places they chose!

See how empty? It was great!
Of course, first up was the reptile building.

Brandon had a staring contest with a snake. ICK!
Nicholas was so fascinated with this little frog. I don't think I've ever seen a frog so long and skinny!
Then off to the tigers :)
I love this picture.

And this one.
Of course we had to visit the aquarium :)
We visited the North America section for the first time in a very long time. The kids were amazed at the size of the bears! We also couldn't believe how big a Bald Eagle's nest is! It was so fun to roam around reading the info on each animal and really taking our time.

My little prairie pups ;)
When we left, we were all cold and very tired...just the way a winter zoo trip should be :) We can't wait to go back!