Mini Vacation: Day 3

The weekend has just flown by! I can't believe we are home already!! The kids slept in the car the entire way home, ate a little supper, did some homework and went straight to bed. I think we definitely wore them out completely!

Our last day started a little late because the kids were all exhausted after a late night at the pool last night - they didn't get to bed until 10:30! Poor babies. So we kind of slept in a little and got a late start. We met Reid & Charly at the Brookfield Zoo around 11:30 and spent the next six hours there! We saw animals of all sorts; furry, feathery, and fishy. They had a really cool exhibit called "Dinosaurs Alive". There were a bunch of life-size models of different types of dinosaurs that moved their heads, tails and made noise. The best was when the guys "fed" Nathan & Emma to one of the meat-eaters! That was hilarious! The underwater viewing area for the sea lions was a big hit. One of them came right up to the window and was looking right at the kids - I think it wanted them to come and swim with it. The kids all loved the "Children's Zoo" where they got to pet and brush a bunch of goats and see all other types of 'domestic' animals. Grace's favorites were the piggies and the "sheepy-hoos", as she calls them:) Benjamin's favorite animal was the draft horse. I think it reminded him of his stuffed horse, Yee-Haw that he sleeps with every night. Patrick's favorite part was seeing the hawk dismember and disembowel the mouse that the keepers had just given it to eat - Yuck! But he thought it was cool. Emma was great all weekend for not getting much rest. She took a short nap in Nannie's arms in "Tropic World" while we were looking at the gorillas. We had to run for cover about 4:30 or so because the 40% chance of rain turned into 100% as we were standing in line to do the Motor Safari. That didn't deter us though. After Tropic World we went to The Swamp and then on to ride the carousel. Charly took Emma on the panda, Benny and Reid both rode a cicada, Nathan rode a cheetah, Mark stood next to Grace on the Zebra, Dad/Grandpa rode a gorilla, and Patrick rode a buffalo. I didn't ride because I get motion sick and Diana didn't ride because she wanted to take pictures. Right after everyone got off of the carousel the rain started coming down a little harder. We decided to go and see what we could see anyways since by then we had about 45 minutes left before the zoo closed for the day. We headed off toward the Hoofed Animals and saw the rhino, bison, and giraffes, before we made a mad dash for the exit because by then it was pouring and we were all basically soaked even though we had two umbrellas. It didn't matter though - we had a GREAT day! It was so nice to spend the day with our kids and my Dad, Diana, Reid & Charly. I LOVE my family. Thank you to everyone that we got to visit with this weekend! We love you, miss you, and hope to see you soon!