Zoo Day

Besides the previously mentioned High Five magazine, the main part of my parents' Christmas present to us was a zoo membership. This was a super great gift because it means we can go to the zoo for free whenever we want. Normally it would cost $48 for our family to, which is not nothing, particularly if we then eat lunch on top of that, so then there is a lot of pressure to spend the day, enjoy every moment, and get our money's worth. But a membership takes all that pressure away. We decided to take advantage of our 60 degree weather this weekend to go to the zoo. We started off at the bird show. We hadn't done this before and it was a lot of fun and not too long. The birds fly right over your head at times, close enough to feel quite a breeze, and sometimes they will even graze your head with their tails and wings. We saw owls, an eagle, some parrots, a pigeon and probably a couple others I am forgetting.  Check out the blurred streak of the parrot as it zooms right above our heads.

Next we saw a few animals, but not all that many. The highlight was the polar bear. It's always amazing how huge he really is.

Next, after seeing some animals in the children's center, we went out back to the play tree they have. It has a slide and an observation platform. The kids really enjoyed this. The stairs looked a bit treacherous for Hannah who, unfortunately for her, seems to have inherited my motor skills. She falls more than I would think is even possible. But Jason went in there to make sure she was fine and she got the hang of it right away. They had a ton of fun doing this for a long time. I really like this play area because there is only one exit so you can be confident that your kid is on the play structure somewhere.

After that, we went to the outdoor playground. It was pretty crowded both at the zoo generally and at the playground specifically since we don't get many 60 degree days in February around here. However, it wasn't too crowded to play. Look at brave Hannah, climbing up the curvy ladder. She did a great job with that. I spotted her because, like I said, she has some balance issues. But she didn't really need my help at all and I didn't have to catch her even one time. She's becoming a very big girl.

After that, it was pretty late and the kids were very exhausted, so it was time to go home. We had a great time and will look forward to coming back next time it's nice and we have some free time.