Omaha Zoo

We chose the hottest, sunniest, most humid day to go to the Omaha Zoo.  There were a lot of air conditioned buildings to go through, so it ended up working out ok, but perhaps if we go again we'll check the weather report first!

We checked out the globe, & set it right side up.  We even found PEI on it! 

With 8 kids & 7 adults we managed to keep everyone together (for the most part).  The few times we lost someone it was usually not a kid! 

Granola Bar break! 

 Chancery & Lion found a nice spot to wait.

Mapping our course was not the easiest thing to do.  These maps were old & there are several new buildings that are not on the map yet.  Also the names & 'You are here' indicators are broken off most of the maps we found.  Good thing Auntie Sharon knew where we were going! 

I think the kids enjoyed the vines most of all! 

When you get the kids together, you better take a photo!

Especially if they are all in matching shirts! 

We had a great day, followed by burgers at Red Robin, which we all enjoyed!

I taught the people in my vehicle the flag game that we play.  You split the car into sides, then everyone looks for flags.  If you see a flag of the country you are in, your side gets 1 point.  If you see a different flag (State flag, British flag, etc) your side gets 2 points.  It was all going well until we passed a school & Uncle Kurt scored 27 points!

It's A Zoo Around Here!

 Wednesday we headed to the National Zoo with Auntie B, Noodle, Jelly, & Apple.  The great thing about this Zoo is that admission is free.  The only thing you need to pay for is parking, & Auntie B had a parking pass, so that was free too!

We went in the rainforest area & saw a couple of spoonbills

I guess PChad's shirt was just the right colour green because they kept pecking him,

& even tried to kiss his cheek!

 We ate a picnic lunch in the shade of some bamboo, & a friendly chipmunk ate our crumbs

(we didn't feed him, honest!)

Asher, Apple, Chancery & Jelly taking up the whole path

(but getting along for a few moments!)

 When we got back home Asher was excited to find a toad in the yard, "just like the ones we saw at the zoo!"

We had a great day, & it was nice to see the pandas, tigers, lions & elephants I remembered seeing when I was little.  The kids even hopped on all the painted elephant tracks on the path on the way to the elephant enclosure.  The only thing we missed was the giraffes, which the zoo has gotten rid of.

Off To The Zoo!

PChad had a few weeks off, so we decided rather than taking a long trip involving lots of driving, we’d take 2 short, local trips.

 

The first trip was to Moncton.  Day one we decided to visit the zoo since I had a free family pass I’d been carrying around for the past 2 years.  We decided it was finally time to cash it in.

The zoo in Moncton isn’t all that big, but it was the perfect size for a nice, leisurely day with two little ones with the attention spans of gnats.

We saw almost all the animals, & the only thing we really missed out on was the otters, but their tank was being rebuilt & they weren’t there.  I guess that means another trip in a few years’ time!

 

Once the kids had had enough of the hands off approach, we gave them the option of pony rides, or face paint.  They ever so wisely chose pony rides, but after they were through there was an attempt to get faces painted as well.  We squashed that dream (they have to learn about choices, right?) and then bought them slushies.  It was a happy moment for all involved!

We couldn’t leave without taking advantage of a photo-op, so we told Asher to go be a tiger.

Note Chancery taking the opportunity to steal a sip of Asher’s slushie…