Friday, September 07, 2007

Last of Free Day of Summer

Next week we return to five days of two different preschools and swimming lessons. Although Andrew loves school (when asked how his day was yesterday he responded, "wonderful and amazing") I don't really enjoy all the driving (especially since the formally happy to ride Nick has turned into Mr. Screech in the car) and trying to get something (naps or projects) done around pick up and drop off times. I do like the change in weather to something a bit cooler though. I'm also looking forward to the apple orchard, pumpkin carving, holiday baking, etc.

Since we had one last free day I decided we should do something special. I stalked the library for the Museum Adventure Pass to the MN Zoo. We haven't been there in a couple years and I really though Andrew would like going there and I figured that with school having started last week there wouldn't be many people there. We do go to Como since we live so close, but the MN Zoo is so very different. Although the day started off cool and cloudy, it quickly turned into beautiful blue skies and comfortable temps. We got to the zoo about 30 minutes after it opened, looked at Discovery Bay for a few minutes and then headed to the dolphin show. Andrew loved the dolphins, Nick not so much. My usually brave and adventurous little guy didn't like it when the dolphins jumped or went to the front of the tank. Although, he didn't mind seeing the dolphins when we were just standing by the side of the tank. After the show we went back to Discovery Bay and checked out the tide pools and other places. Nicholas was getting ready to sleep at that point so (after seeing how nice the weather had gotten) I suggested we go walk outside. Nick was out by the time we were about a quarter of the way around.

Andrew looking at the camels

I don't know if it was the change in weather from a few days of hot weather to suddenly having a cool day or if it was because we were there earlier in the day, but the animals were all active and easy to see.

That was a huge change from my memories of walking around the trail in the past. There is also a playground near one end of the trail so Andrew played for a bit there while Nicholas napped. Andrew (in true Andrew fashion) decided to pretend to be a prairie dog and instead of playing on the equipment he dug holes in the sand and barked like a prairie dog.



We finished off the trail and headed inside to the Tropics Trail. This trail was redone about 10-15 years ago and is nice, but the highlight for the kids was the coral reef exhibit.

Andrew liked the calm and Nick loved that he could see all the fish and they would swim right in front of him. He also liked the pink flamingos since he had a really good view of them.


Next was lunch and then we finished up with the Minnesota Trail. I did this one last because I was remembering the damp concrete tanks of lake fish and a few outdoor exhibits that were hard to see. This trail has been completely remodeled though. It has a Northwoods theme and is set up to have natural exhibits for the animals that have viewing areas into things like the coyote den (where we saw a little one sleeping) and little things that emboss animal shapes onto paper that you can do as you come to the animal on the trail. One of the coolest things to see was the bald eagle sitting on a branch near the trail. I wish the batteries hadn't died on my camera and I could have gotten a few shots of the trail.

Nick was obviously tired by the time we left since he fell asleep on the way home and then took a long nap once he was home in his bed. I think we all had a good time though.

We also decided to head to a park this evening. There is a park near where Tim used to work in Roseville that is pretty much unknown. There is a parking lot behind a bunch of warehouse type businesses. This parking lot is in front of a soccer field and a softball diamond. There is a trail off the side of the lot that leads to an area with a little picnic shelter and two play areas. This is the perfect park for us where there is plenty of room to run around and it is a quiet little area great for evening play. And no, I'm not going to mention the name of the park, I want to keep it a little secret.

Tomorrow I will try to talk a little about knitting projects and some spinning, but for tonight I just wanted to enjoy my day a bit longer.

You can see a few more pictures in the web album if you click on any of the pictures.

2 comments:

Holly Jo said...

Love the description of him playing prairie dog. :) I love it when kids do that sort of imaginative play after witnessing something.

Glad you enjoyed the last day of summer. :)

Serge said...

The kids sure looked like they enjoyed the time of their lives at this place! I'm pretty sure they asked when they could visit this place again. Looking forward for more adventures!

 

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