A trip to a different type of zoo

So our plans for this weekend were to head down to Nana & Papa's so daddy could get his gun ready for hunting. I found out mid week that the Milwaukee County Zoo was having Free Family Day. On these days it is free admission for everyone, the only thing you pay for is $10 for parking. Not to mention the weather was predicted to be great! For a family of 5 to get in for $10 is AWESOME! On a normal day it would be over $60 to park and get in...so it made a lot of sense to change plans. Unfortunately Nana and Papa could not make it here to go with us. We met Jean, Lexi and Grandma in the parking lot. All the kids were very excited to be at the zoo. The weather was awesome, could not have asked for better. And although it was free, the amount of people was not awful. We had one building (The Big Cats building) where the amount of strollers, wagons and people came to a stand still. Everyone was waiting for the tiger cubs to come out, so we made a bee line out of there. The only other line, which we would have on a normal day, was the food line. I had thought about packing a lunch, but just ran out of time. We still spent less than admission and parking on a normal day...how cool is that?!?!? The kids LOVED it. They loved it when we went to Madison Zoo, but they got to see a lot more animals today. Even with waking early (about 6:15am) and pushing them way past naptime (normally 1:30) they held it together. By the time we headed home it was after 3pm and they were asleep within a few minutes of being on the road. Here are the pictures from our adventure.
Not the best picture of the sign in front, but I took it at the end of the day...
I think they are ready!

Checking out the flamingos...sleeping standing on one leg...

The penguins were swimming around which had the kids mesmerized...

The kids taking front seat to watch two birds (I forget what type) eating breakfast...pumpkins...

The monkeys checking out the monkeys...notice Zachary...trying to climb in, of course!

Daddy and the boys...

Mommy and the kids checking out the gorilla...

Me and my boys...

A break for a quick snack...

I had to take this picture...my 3 bears...

The kids checking out the elk...

Daddy helping Liz get a better view of something...

Liz checking out the camels...

Now this Jaguar is comfortable!

Liz and Grandma checking out the Jaguar...

and daddy and the boys checking him out too.

The lions also enjoying the beautiful day...

Daddy and Alex checking him out...

Liz and Zach checking out the Zebra...

This is a picture of the Big Cat building that we left...can you see all the people??? Daddy is helping the kids look at....

him! He is beautiful...not even sure what he is but the sign said to keep kids off the glass and no sudden movement as the cat is very sensitive...hmmm...glad there is glass between us, right???

Auntie Jean, daddy and the kids checking out the one thing Alex wanted to see badly...

giraffes! We got to them just in time as one was headed in and this one is making a dash to get in for lunch.

Up on daddy shoulders to get a better view of...

the elephants! Everyone got a turn to get up...thanks daddy!After lunch we saw the sea lions...

and the kids got the treasures mom had been collecting along the way...plastic molded animals...A lion for Alex, a tiger for Liz and the three monkeys (hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil) for Zach. I remember these molds from when we'd go to the zoo when I was a kid. Love them! I think they take after me in their love for them...lol!

The last of actual exotic animals was the Hippo...due to it getting late we did skip some animals...there will be future zoo trip and the kids were getting pretty tired so to avoid meltdowns we headed to...

the farm animal areas. Not real exciting for the kids as they have seen most of these animals in person, but there are different types so still something new. Liz checking out the cows...

and daddy with Alex...Zach checking them out from ground level...

We had such a great day as you can probably tell from the pictures. The kids made the adventure even more special by putting their special touches on it! Like the leaves...I won't go into all of it but they all had leaves that they held onto for most of the day...there was leaf hunts too. Also them saying hi and good-bye to the animals. Them being so excited to see a particular animal. As we headed out of the zoo we made one last stop. My mom has the pictures of it, so you'll just have to believe me...lol. We ended our day on the carousel. We look forward to the next visit to the zoo.

Love, Jen