It's spring! Time to hit the Zoo

 It is spring break in our district and we think that there is no better way to spend our day than going to the zoo.  The weather yesterday was absolutely perfect for an outing so we ventured to the Como Zoo in St. Paul.  This is my favorite zoo in MN.  I think it has to do with the layout and the fact that it is our family's far less frequented zoo.  Each time we go, I try to get a picture of the kids by these two giraffe's.  They definitely enjoy posing for this. 

We at lunch in the cafe when we arrived and then we ventured on to see the primates, the large cats, the polar bears, the aquatic animals and finally the hoofed animals.  My kids have definite favorites.  For Avery, it has always been and probably always will be Sparky the Sea Lion.  There were actually three sea lions in pools there and she asked me which one was Sparky.  I responded with, "All of them."  Perhaps that wasn't the best answer but in reality I had no idea.  So then I said, "I'm not sure...which one do you think it is?"  That seemed to satisfy her.  Bria loved the Orangutans.  Especially the little baby who was sticking his head into a 5 gallon bucket.  Bria sure cracked up when he jumped inside of it and hid.  Bennett's favorite is the Giraffe.  He is amazed at how big their eyes are and the patterns on their fur.  My personal favorite was an animal that I have never seen there before which was a Snow Fox.  It was this tiny little white fox that was just beautiful and very engaged with the crowd that was surrounding him. 

I was delighted to discover a new room that I have never seen before as we were walking toward the Conservatory.  It is this darling little kids den full of animal things to explore.  They had a water machine that teaches you about rain, condensation and evaporation that Bennett was intrigued by.  Bria loved putting on the zoo keepers apron and tending to the animals and flowers.  Avery enjoyed searching for the animals that were hidden in a mural and watering the "flowers" that were growing in a corner.  I was glad to have the opportunity to take a seat and do some fun learning activities with the kids.

Finally, we made our way into the conservatory.  It was so beautiful in there and also extremely humid.  We had to take off our jackets immediately.  There were so many wonderful places to explore, plant life to see and obviously a lot of great places to catch some candid photo's of the kids.  I tried really hard to get some great shots of the kids but between sweating profusely, my camera lens jamming(OMG someone help!) and trying to prevent Bennett from destroying leaf fronds it just wasn't going to happen.  We made a rather hasty retreat after Bennett almost fell into the fountain pictured behind them because he did not listen to me when I said no climbing.  The boy may be the end of me!

As spring break comes to an end, I am glad to have had a week where I was able to hang out individually with each of the kids, do fun craft activities, take Avery along to places that she normally does not go since she is in school and have play dates and sleep overs with some of their friends.  However, I will breath a sigh of relief on Monday when we can get back to our normal routine.