Today is our last day in IL. We decided to head up to the Milwaukee County Zoo in Milwaukee, WI. There just happened to be a nice photo opportunity in front. ;-)
We were told that this zoo was a little smaller but nicer and cheaper than the other one near by. We enjoyed it a lot! It was a perfect size for us with small children and a time-frame.
There were lots of fun animals for us to look at. Some of them were closer than I have ever seen them in other zoos! In most zoos you have to play a game of I Spy to find the lions, but in this zoo they were right up close where we cold see them sleeping. We got to see the Tigers playing and splashing water at each other! Very Cool!
There was also a special exhibit about dinosaurs. It cost an extra $2.50 per person to get in. If we had not had Grandma with us, we probably wouldn't have paid the extra money to go in. But, Grandma to the rescue, she paid for us all to get in. I was a little worried about it not being worth the money, but it was actually pretty cool! There were different robotic dinosaurs set up with different "scenes". They had a herbivore pretending to eat from some trees and a carnivore eating a fish to name just a couple of them.
Samantha liked the dinosaurs. She loves watching "Dinosaur Train" on the Disney Channel, so she was excited to see the "nice dinosaurs".
At least until this T-Rex growled at her, then she didn't think they were very nice any more. Marc enjoyed pretending with the dinosaurs. Does he look scared? ;-)
Are his "wings" as big as the dinosaur's? ;-)
Near the exit there was a a dinosaur statue that we could climb on and pose with, so, course, we took advantage of it! ;-)
Then Grand asked Marc to get down on the ground and pretend the dinosaur is eating his head. Cute idea Grandma!
My Mom bought each of the kids a new stuffed dinosaur. Samantha is sleeping with Cheese on the way home. Cheese got his name when we were talking to her about it later in the night. I suggested Spike because he he had spikes on his back. Daddy suggested Cheese. I thought, "oh cute, since we got him in WI, the cheese capital". Daddy said "no, this way she can go to bed with Cheese and Crackers (her giraffe)". Kinda silly, cute very cute and a clever idea on Daddy's part.
Marc choose to name his new dinosaur Tank, after a dinosaur from "Dinosaur Train". While Samantha slept Marc talked to and pretended with Tank.
After our hour drive back to
Gurnee from Milwaukee, we got back to Aunt Sari's and Uncle Gary's house. The kids helped Uncle Gary put together a dinosaur floor puzzle.
We then ate dinner, had some play time, ate dessert, and some more play time. It was then getting very close to time to go back to the hotel for some sleepy time. We wanted to get some pictures of Great Grandma with all her great
grandkids; who knows when they will all be together again.
After some struggles of getting 3 young kids to sit still, look at the camera, and all smile at the same time, we decided to throw the grand kids into the mix too. We were having trouble getting the 2 2-year-
olds to look at the camera. Daddy Marc was very clever (yet again) and out an Elmo video on his phone and held it right next to the camera. What do ya know...it worked!!
It was a very nice weekend with family and fun. A big thanks again to my Aunt Sari & Uncle Gary for letting us invite ourselves over to see you guys and Susanne & Kate. We all had a great time! And thanks for dinner both night! :-)
We brought one of our Frisbees with us. The boys enjoyed tossing it around. Except when the Frisbee hit Marc in the face and pushed his glasses into his nose and gave him a small cut. :-(
We all had fun swinging too. :-)
We brought our bubble machine. The bubbles we brought to put in it were too thick s they didn't work too well, but there were a few for the kids to chase around.
We also brought a Nerf ball to toss around. This picture is funny because Marc is ducking from the 2-year-old throw. ;-)
During winter Marc bought a baseball mitt for Peanut. We never got it our over the summer so Daddy grabbed it on our way out to the park.
It was such a gorgeous day, weather, park, and kids that I decided that it was time for a mini photo shoot.
It was such a fun way to end the week! We were all a little tired from the new school schedule that it was fun to go out and have some fun as a family. :-)
