Zoo Day

Let's just preface this by saying I don't have ANY pictures from today so leave now if you're a picture gawker (cough cough, Christin)!!   :)

So - as you guessed by the title we went to the zoo.  The MN Zoo to be exact.  We headed out early so I could get gas and a Caribou.  Then off to Apple Valley we went. We started with the snow monkeys, since they are the first thing you see when you enter.  Then she immediately said she wanted to see dolphins so we went inside.  On our way to the bay we saw baby chicks and a baby bunny.  She got to pet the bunny and she thought the chicks were, "ahhhhh sooo cuuuuute" with her hands clasped together and by her chin with her head tilted and her body swaying like she's rocking a baby, LOL. When we got to the fish area she was galloping around.  She was SO excited to be running around.  I purchased a harness for her (I call it a leash).  I had it on so she could run and explore, but not be too far away or out of my sight.  She calls it her backpack. She didn't seem to mind it at all. Unfortunately the dolphins were hanging out in the back section today so both times we went to the bay, she didn't get to see them. I promised her that we would go back to see them another day. She also REALLY wanted to ride the "train". When we got to the tram station we saw it pulling away - we missed it by JUST a minute.  awwww. She was slightly disappointed, but I told her we could just go have lunch instead and that made her happy.

Okay so I just skipped over a ton of our day. In between the 1st and 2nd dolphin visits we: walked to the farm and stayed there for a LONG time; met up with our friends, then left our friends; then kept walking the circle and saw the rest of the animals. We were in the bear cove for about 15 minutes watching them fish.  We even saw them catch one!!  It was really fun and I could have stayed longer and she REALLY wanted to stay longer, but I was getting physically tired (carrying a 20 pound weight (Boy) on your body gets exhausting) and we had to have lunch. By this point I was AMAZED that she was still walking on her own. Of course we didn't have a stroller, so she didn't have much of an option. She was incredibly slow though. Letting a two year old set the pace means that you have to be ready for an all day zoo trip (I was). If I had to choose her favorite part of the day - I'd say the bears. If you ask her she says the dolphins, then she says they were sleeping (that's what I told her they were doing since we couldn't see them). LOL My favorite part of the day: getting to enjoy the zoo without having to dodge people with a stroller. Oh when daddy asked her what she did today she said, "John and Stephen". Then daddy tried to tell her that was the other day, BUT I had to correct him and tell her she was right and to tell daddy what we all did.  She did a really good job of re-capping the trip to him. It's so cute that she is so enthralled with the boys right now. I think it helped that they were able to come and play one on one this week. Normally there is a large group of kids whenever she plays with them.

So - now the turmoil in my head.  Should we get a zoo pass or a children's museum pass?  CM is nice for hot/rainy days, but the zoo entertains us for a longer period of time.  CM is a half hour closer. CM is next to daddy's triangle building (that's what she calls Jared's workplace) so we can meet him for lunch. The kids are free for the rest of the year at the Zoo. I can buy a single pass for the Zoo.  CM gets boring for me after a visit or two since it's the same thing over and over.  She seems to be getting bored with it as well. Enough with the thinking while I type - I ramble when I do that.

So to wrap this up - we have to go back to the zoo.