Zoo Day!

Man! Was it a gorgeous day yesterday! The girls and I decided to make a spur of the moment trip to the Minnesota Zoo. It was a quick decision too. When I woke up in the morning, it was still dark, and I was just so HAPPY that I didn't have anywhere to go that day. I was thinking to myself that it would probably be a good day to just stay home (maybe even stay in my jammies!). It had just been run, run, run all week. I'm kind of a homebody and I get crazy when I don't get my home time.

But anyway, later after the girls got up the sun started coming out and we had breakfast, I thought, Hmmmm...maybe it's going to be a nice day. I had thought it was going to be gloomy and cold. Guess I should check the weather report more often. I did check it then and it was going to be in the 60's! Well, sheesh, you know there aren't going to be many days like that this fall, so I just blurted out to girls, "You guys wanna go to the zoo today?" Well, imagine my surprise (NOT!) when they both yelled a chorused, "YES!"

So, I quickly made a couple PB sandwiches, threw them in my purse, along with a couple small bags of M&M's, grabbed my camera and off we went. It takes me about 30 minutes or so to get there, and when we arrived I was ecstatic to see an almost empty parking lot! The girls were getting so excited! The last time we had come to the zoo, I don't know WHAT I was thinking. It was on a Friday in the spring, so I was thinking that most kids would be in school. Alas, it totally did not dawn on me that it was right before Easter and all the school kids were on break! It was a FUNNY FARM; wall to wall kids, strollers on the paths, on the playgrounds, everywhere. So, you can see why I was doing backflips when I saw that empty parking lot.

We have a zoo membership this year and it's really a good deal. You only have to go twice for it to pay for itself and you get free parking too. That, and there is such a great reciprocity program for other zoos. Being that we are a traveling family, this can come in handy. We were able to utilize our membership at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City this past summer and get in free!

Back to the day... we headed right out onto the paths to make a loop on the Northern Trail. OH, and the other big news was that I didn't even bring the stroller in the car with me. This is the first time. They really did great; no whining about walking at all! It was just so beautiful out. We only had sweatshirts as coats and it actually got a little warm. It was so sunny! Just beautiful. Too bad we missed the peak leaf season.



We saw the tigers first and then went on to lots of other animals. About halfway around the loop, by the Family Farm, there is a big playground. We stopped to play there and it was a far cry from the last time. There were so many kids on it before that L & S could barely walk around without getting run over. This time it was them and maybe a couple other kids. Then it was off again until we got back to the beginning. We ate our sandwiches at a picnic table and then headed inside to check out Discovery Bay and the Tropics Trail. The Tropics Trail was a hit because we saw Zaboomafoo!

I'm at a loss for words to tell you what a fun day this was. It was even more fun due to the spontaneity, I think. That, and it was gorgeous, and I had my two beautiful, fun-loving daughters with me. How could it get any better?



I guess it did get better, because on the way home, Sydney said to me, "Momma, we had so much fun at the zoo today!" Music to a mother's ears!