Our Zoo Trip

Last week was MEA weekend, and Amy was in town with her kids. After realizing that Merle's zoo membership, which gets all of her grandchildren in for free, was going to expire at the end of October, and the price has gone up $100 higher than last year, we decided to have one last zoo trip with the whole crew. So, Amy and her 5 kids, Jessica and her 4 kids, Merle, my 7 kids, our friend Carrie (who used to live with Merle and Reo during college), and her two kids and I all met at the zoo. This is us, lining nearly the entire snow monkey exhibit wall.

It was a fun day. I enjoyed watching Katie see all of the animals for the first time. She had seen some at the Carver County Fair this summer, but the fish were completely new for her, and she really seemed to enjoy watching them, as did most of my kids. I think we always spend the most time in the aquarium exhibit.

Timmy crashed our stroller for a while. He was tuckered out, and enjoyed the fish, as well. Then, he fell asleep for a nice nap.

Tristin was really helpful. He kept Jessica's kids from escaping the aquarium exhibit, and helped push strollers. He also tried to help Brandon return to his natural habitat (ha-ha-ha).

I'm thinking that we may all still be able to get to the zoo with Merle and Reo once in a while, even without their membership. Through the library system, once each month we can check out passes to the zoo, as long as there are some available. If there aren't enough available at our library when we want to go, we can always pick some up from one of the other locations in Carver County, or Merle and Reo could try the Dakota system, as well. It will require a little advance planning, but it can be done for free. Each library card holder can check out two passes. Aaron and I, plus our older three or four kids, have library cards, so we can get quite a few. This works with many of the museums in the Twin Cities, as well. I recommend The Works. It is a hands-on physics museum for kids in Edina. We went there last winter, and our kids loved it. We practically had to drag them away after three hours.