Detroit Zoo

Our time at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago made us miss our own zoo. So, with just a few days between travels, that's where we went. Some may wonder how we can stand to visit the same zoo so often, but if you really spend time with the animals while you are there, you'll find that while the exhibits are fairly much the same from time to time, there is always something different to see. This trip we thought it would be baby otters, but it turned out to be a number of other things, from the Black Crowned Night Herons nesting in their rookery, to the polar bear performing for a crowd. Yes, it's always a different place for us.

What did the turtle say to the cormorant?

that is one sleepy camel...

This is Talini, the polar bear that was born the year before Calvin.

The zoo with friends

can be much more fun than the zoo alone.

{field trip} Detroit Zoo in the spring

The zoo. It's a favorite stop for us, which means we visit it often, but because it's different every time we go we never get bored with it. Because we stayed in through most of the winter this year, it's been many months since the last time we visited our favorite exotic animals, and we missed them. The tigers were still being lazy, the zebras were hiding in the back somewhere, the polar bears were all snoring away, but the warthogs were busy. They kept us entertained for a while, and we caught a peacock terrorizing the prairie dogs, which kept us entertained as well.

It was good to be back.

Field trip! at the zoo

Our homeschooling group did not have access to our usual meeting place this afternoon, so instead some families opted to meet off site somewhere. We joined with a group of young families that were headed to the Detroit Zoo, which feels more like home than a field trip to us, but that was part of the fun. Relatively warm weather and pretty sunshine added to our enjoyment, of course.

Brookfield Zoo

Like the Field Museum, the Brookfield Zoo has become one of our favorite Chicago stops. They have okapis, need I say more? With temperatures in the low to mid sixties we had the perfect weather, and so did the animals, which means we got to see more of them, and see more of them doing stuff, like the polar bear playing with his ball. We ate bison burgers, we pet stingrays, we gave a wide berth to a giant animatronic wasp. Desert animals, African animals, Australian animals, and us animals.

After the zoo we went out for a birthday dinner at favorite Italian spot, and tomorrow it will be time to head home and get back to life as usual. October means so many lovely fall things. Jon is already begging for pumpkin cheesecake, and we have to visit our own zoo again in these cooler, delightful days. Classes have started up at HAA, Hallowe'en Nights is up at Henry Ford, and Halloween is just around the corner. I guess the first thing on our list for this week should be decorating. Right after laundry, that is.