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.

April 21

Easter Monday… well the Monday after Easter was the perfect day for our family to head to the Como Zoo… it is a donations only entrance so way more affordable for our small budget than the state zoo. It may not have ALL the animals but there are more than enough to make for a fun and fulfilling day.

We started out with the seals and penguins where we picked up our second plastic mold creature – a seal (last time it was the gorilla). The kids want to collect all of the ones available at the zoo. One animal at a time.

We got some spectacular pictures of the polar bear.

We had a snack in front of the lions who were napping in the sun.

And other cats as well

There was the newly renovated gorilla enclosure to check out as well.

Don’t forget about the monkeys!

We had a quick stop off at the gift shop to look around and get a postcard to send to Cousin Jimmie back home. And then it was out the door and into the sunshine.

Time to head home for the OTHER big activity! Gammie sent the kids a box full of Easter Egg Hunt fun! Pre filled eggs and peeps for all!! I had Ken set it all up –  the pretty eggs in the front yard in pretty plain sight for the girls and the backyard full of  the others in harder to find places. The girls were so excited to have easy to find and the boys totally loved the challenge.

Ready to hunt

After we ran and hunted and laughed it was time to take all the booty up to the sun room to hang out in the sunshine as we painstakingly opened each and every egg and pile up the treats… jelly beans and rockets (US Smarties). Each egg was carefully emptied, closed back up and put into the bag to be saved as I am told we MUST repeat this procedure next year!

Throw some more fun outside with a tiny bit of school and I think we made it an Easter Monday to remember!!!

NOTE this is being posted on the 15th and I just want to send out a prayer to all those involved in the bombings in Boston. The world we live in is such an amazing and at times scary place…

April 9-11

Some days are special days and some days we MAKE special… today after a successful (with only a few glitches) morning I put the girls to nap and let the boys Minecraft it up with minimum fuss for once!

Working together

Of course first we had to learn all about penguins… our second book for the day was National Geographic Science Readers: Penguins by Anne Schreiber. Penguins really are one of the most interesting birds. And today we found out WHY they are black on their backs (to hide them from predators from above) and white on their stomachs (to make them hard to spot when fishing!).

Our informational brochure type thing

We had a video covering the career and death of Captain Cook… apparently there is no clear answer as to WHY he was murdered… killed… whatever… Thanks to Crash Course World History. A little over their heads but enjoyable all the same.

Gavin and Emanuel assembled an ice box off of our Mr. Popper’s Penguins lapbook.

It is hard to see but Emanuel made the penguin (he is pro) and Gavin cut out the ice cubes.

We also had a phone call from Grandma on her trip down Route 66… assembly line phone call!

Pass that phone!

And since apparently winter is not willing to let go… we had snow themed pages in our brand new nature journals.

Back to snow

For some unknown reason this is the window of choice!

The middle of the week was definitely not a sunny spring day… however that did not stop us from learning even more about penguins. This time we made clay ones to go into our tiny refrigerator with the clay food.

Penguins on parade

We had a fun second story in the form of the book Little Penguin The Emperor of Antartica by Jonathon London. This time instead of reflecting on the story itself the 3 boys worked together to create their own little story.

Penguin Book

We made fingerprint pneguins…

CUTE!!

Then the boys snuck off on me to do Lincoln Logs…

A little city…

With our Mr. Popper’s Penguins the boys re-enacted a phone call in our chapter… too cute!

hilarious

The boys went and played with the neighbours. In the process of learning the proper catch and throwing techniques Gavin’s cheek got in the way! He was just fine about it though.

Ouch

Thursday marked a rather massive amount of spring snow… so of course the twins had to go out and play in it for a while.

Super sticky snow

Our second book of the day was by an author we really enjoy – Antoinette Portis (Not a Box) called A Penguin Story. This time the 3 boys (Trinity refused) drew their own adorable penguins and we stapled that together to be a mini book.

Adorable penguins

Here is how our weather ENDED on these 3 says of SPRING…

Seriously???

We did a Wild Kratts that was appropriate for our theme if only because these are animals that are MISTAKENLY showed with Penguins – Polar Bears and the Walrus are NORTH Pole critters… the Penguins SOUTH of the equator!

Such art!

So our 3 days have been filled with Penguin learning and snow… I think the kids don’t believe me that it is spring anymore!!!

We DO have some birds though!