Field Trip: The Zoo

Well, since we moved from the city 3 1/2 years ago, I have been a bit of a bad mom.  We have NOT been to the zoo!!!  It is about 2 1/2 hours away, so yes I have an excuse, but kids love the zoo.  Mini Cooper and Explorer had never been to a zoo-ever. The only one who could remember the zoo was Mustang.  I was embarrassed.  This past weekend, we finally went while visiting my family.

My goal for this zoo trip was to do all the hands-on activities that we could.  The zoo, itself, is free, but there were many other things we could pay to do.  We decided to go with the $10.00 arm band that allowed us entry into most of the extras so that the kids could enjoy the hands-on stuff.

First, we headed into the Children's Zoo.  It was awesome!  First, we checked out a show about animal training.

Trained rats (ewww)!

A trained Macaw-I loved this part!

Last up was a trained Armadillo. I didn't realize they could be trained.  He ran around in the big circle, too!

Then, off we went to the petting zoo.  Checking out a very BIG snake.

Guinea Pigs.

An owl.  He was quite cute!

Explorer wasn't so sure about the hedge hog!

Oh my goodness, this meerkat (that you COULDN'T touch) had the funniest look on his face.  He just sat, staring at everyone.

Over to the barn yard area...we found a bunch of roosters (kinda felt like we were at the neighbor's house).

And many goats that would let everyone touch them, brush them, and hug them.

They wouldn't eat rocks, though.

A few things weren't hands on, but we sure didn't want to miss seeing the baby elephant!

Next up was the Insectarium (I think that is what it was called!).  We are getting ready to start learning more about insects, so I thought this was a good place to focus.  Lots of neat things to see!

Do you see the praying mantis?

They had  a few cases of chrysalises.

And then, we went into the butterfly house.  

It was a beautiful place full of about 300 butterflies-that apparently don't photograph well!!  I could see them in person, but I have a hard time here in the picture.

The very best part (in my opinion) was when we went to pet the stingrays!!

They are so neat and soft to touch!  One of them got startled and splashed Charger.  

These (I think they were lemurs) were soo funny.  The one in the middle must have jumped all around that cage about 3 times in as many minutes.  Charger was rolling with laughter.

I attempted a photo of my monkeys with the zoo monkey, but no one looked at the camera :).

The train ride was a lot of fun!

Explorer was thrilled to be free from her stroller!

We finished with the girls' favorite part...a ride on the carousel! 

Even Daddy rode a long.

On the way out we visited the penguins.  We had SOOO much fun, but determined it would take at least 2 or 3 days to really see everything in the park.  The things we DID see were all seen in a rush.  We hope to get back there again soon and see some of the things that we missed.

I hope you are having a good summer and going on a few field trips yourself!  We are headed out on another Friday and we are very excited.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless,

Lisa

A Field Trip Back in Time

This last Friday we had the pleasure of going on a field trip with our local library!  This field trip took us to a local island where a group of log structures have been brought.  Instead of having a log cabin here or there throughout the county, many were moved from their original location and placed in a sort of village so you can tour them all at the same time.

Once or twice a year, they open up the cabins so that you can see inside, and also have local historians on site to tell you all about the building you are in.  It was very neat!

Here we are hearing all about the ice blocks cut from the local river during the early 1900's.  Our city provided many other cities with ice each winter.

Mustang listening so she could take notes in her research journal.  This is her self appointed way of taking notes.  Never thought anyone would WANT to take notes, but she loves it!

1830's era corn crib.  Extra interesting to us since Daddy is a corn farmer!

Sitting in the church pews.

Explaining that the men sat on one side and the women on the other.

 School time!  The school itself was closed for repairs, but they did a nice job of creating a 'school' on the porch.  We kinda messed up her story when she asked how we GOT to school and many of our group were home educated :).

I thought this sign was very interesting!

Checking out the 19th century country garden.

This house was home to a family with 13 children!!  The guide is explaining how to do laundry by hand.

And here, we received a log splitting demonstration!  Very neat to watch!!

We were all very much impressed and learned so much!

This was certainly a fun field trip!  

I hope you are finding some great places to visit this summer.  Come back and tell me about them!

God Bless,

Lisa

Field Trip: Nitro Joe

The library in the big city near (ish) us has a really neat program this summer.  Each Friday, we can join them for a presentation or field trip for FREE!  They have an awesome line up of events, and I am determined to go to nearly all of them with the kids.  So, pretty much every week this summer we will be headed out to learn.  This is my very favorite way to learn, so I am really excited about our summer!!

This last week was the first week of the summer program, and we had the opportunity to watch a free science show.  It was very cool.

Nitro Joe, as he calls himself, provided a very entertaining and educational show for the kids.  He used a lot of fire :).

A little blurry, but here he is throwing the fire!

Everyone wanted to help out with the show. Mustang brought her backpack :).

Blowing up a balloon with hydrogen that is being made from breaking down aluminum foil!

Freezing a quarter with dry ice.  It was great, because he would come around to show us up close what he was doing!

Dry ice turned into soda?  I think I got that right!

Blowing bubbles with dry ice and baby shampoo.  Can you see Explorer?  

And, he was even willing to pose for a photo with us afterwards!

Certainly a super fun field trip!!  We are so thankful we got to go and watch!

This week we are off to an island that holds log cabins we will get to tour.  Are you taking any field trips?  Hope your summer is going well no matter where you are going (or staying).

God Bless,
Lisa