What can I say, we seem to gravitate to the Como Zoo in Minnesota. And what is better than enjoying the zoo on a day where it is NOT packed and not more than mildly chilly? Why going with new homeschool friends! Nathan, Drew and Bella are so much fun. With their mom and Ken and myself we had 8 kids, no crowds, and all the time in the world. They are new to the state so it was fun to take them around and show them our favourite parts… talk about future get togethers and explorations… just generally get to know each other better. 

It is such a gift to get to know some homeschool families that are local. This is the second such family that we are getting to know and love. It is wonderful to have moments where the questions are different, the experiences are common and the laughter about personal stories is shared with an understanding that they have been there too! 

As it was the end of April when we went to the zoo it was still a breezy spring day, so many of the animals were relegated to their indoor housing. I cannot count how many times we walked into one and the kids remarked on the smell… it is funny how you see how they almost believe the animals should smell like flowers and potpourri instead of animal and musk.

Gavin took this one in case you were wondering what he was certain was the issue in the giraffe enclosure!

We were able to take our time at each location and talk about things, speak with the interpreters, take pictures. It was relaxing to not have to hold the kids back but let them run and explore within a greater visual area. 

But enough about all that… time for just a wild series of enjoyable images!!! Make sure you scroll to the end. After my favourites are the best of Gavin’s… unedited!!!!

Just the girls

Starfish

PENGUINS! Emanuel demands extra time each trip to visit his all time favourite animal.

Polar Bears! There were two in the enclosure. They were just hanging out, wandering. Somehow I think the weather was somewhat warm to them, possibly quite pleasant.

Spot the snow leopard.

This female tiger is on loan from the Minnesota Zoo for breeding… she was pacing a little… we were wondering if it was man troubles… I could just see her grumbling under breath – stupid tiger thinking I would just clean his fur and be all in love.. wine me, dine me man.

Arctic Foxes look like toys, Echo and Nathan were in love.

Gorgeous bonsai

Monkey House

Such a stately gorilla.

I wish I had taken video of this little guy… he was adorable.

This was the best Ken could do with the wolf… but dang super close!

And now, Gavin’s photo efforts!

Sleepy cat

Ostrich!

This duck was a kid favourite and not even one of the exhibitions.

Sloth… Butt???

And a picture of me taking a picture of something.

Mid week comes so quickly lately, but we made this one count! Echo decided to make last night a late one and then once I got her settled and snuggled in my left arm went completely achy. So I stayed up LONGER to get that sorted… so not exactly an early morning.

Sleepy baby

So in the morning after watching our dinosaur movie AGAIN, having breakfast and all that, the kids settled down to read together (I know 4 kids, one book and TOGETHER! definitely picture worthy!).

Back to the dinosaur book (Zander light blue)

Our afternoon turned sunny and relatively warm after Ken and the kids woke up to frost on the ground, perfect weather for the big treat of the day – THE ZOO! Almost empty except for a few parents with their kids and a busload of teenagers we had the run of the place. Echo’s first zoo trip!

Mommy and Echo (with a screaming Emanuel in the back)

We didn’t see everything but we did get to see the guinea pigs (the ones that are left, there were originally more than 60 but someone poisoned the poor things).

Guinea Pig

Of course we had to stop at the favourite enclosure – the lemur. Actually the boys had a rather good idea which way to go to get there! The weather is still nice enough that they were in and out on both sides.

Playing lemurs

To top it off the tortoise was outside having a meal – the most Ken says he has EVER seen a tortoise move, they may be slow walkers but this one ate FAST!

Hungry tortoise

We wandered a bit but headed right over to see Lucy the elephant. We lucked out, she was out on her walk and taking a break to munch on the grass. This time the kids were much more excited and showed really no fear. When Ken went to take pictures from a different angle all 4 wanted to follow to see her eyes.

Lucy the Elephant

We tried to peek in at the tigers but they were not in their enclosure. We figure there were repairs being done. BUT the wolves were out and in fine form. Trinity LOVES the wolves – she calls them Harley – her word for dogs. We want to go back on the weekend for the 11:30 wolves presentation, just not THIS weekend.

Checking out the wolves (Zander left)

Our last stop was the Arctic foxes who we saw when they first had their babies. It is a large family and apparently a lot of work for the parents so they have  put up some coloured plastic in front of the glass that is immediately in front of their den. But they were running all over the place and the kids thought they were AMAZING. I figure in a couple weeks we will be back there, chilly weather or not, to visit those foxes some more!

Arctic Fox info

Arctic Fox

After our zoo experience we had some shopping to do. Our favourite produce chain has opened a brand new store here in the west end. Very fancy but still the great prices, and since today was their grand opening we got a free reusable bag as well! The kids were VERY impressed.

H&W

And at Walmart I managed to get something off my Baby Echo List – her Christmas dress! 18.00, size 0-3… the second piece is a little pair of pants so I still may need to pick up some tiny baby tights (far from my favourite but the baby legs are too big for her baby legs!). It is very sparkly and definitely what I had in mind. Great price too!

Echo's Christmas dress

After all that excitement the kids were settled down to do their pictures from their zoo trip. Zander did up the zebra (we saw them last time), Emanuel the elephant and Gavin the lemurs… ring tailed of course (his favourite).

Zander's zebra

Gavin's lemurs

Emanuel's Elephant

AND  THEN to amp them all back up – Ted, Fydo and Sean came over. Fydo was in town for work (he lives in the city we are considering moving to in the spring) so Ken picked him up and brought him over for the evening.

Fydo meeting Echo

That of course means we ended up with netbooks and xbox and other electronic games out. I do believe Trinity is now an addict! She got to play pacman with the joystick!!!

Little Gamer

An evening of gaming, and good company is certainly a great way to end our Wednesday.

Gaming

Of course that means less time for our to do list tonight but it is worth it! Tomorrow we have to get started on our official plan for the year to show our facilitator… among other things. Talk about a fun way to start our fall.

Happy girl at the zoo