No fireworks

Well, this is the first July 4th in years that we didn't go see fireworks.  This year we decided to drive up to Minnesota and visit the Mall of America on Saturday. 

The kids loved it because we got to shop!  They each had a limit and they actually stayed under it quite easily, so I'm putting the rest in their college fund account since we've been pretty bad at adding to that over the years!  We had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  Everyone had shrimp but me, the picky one!

Then on Sunday the 4th we went to the Minnesota Zoo.  It's a fairly nice one as far as being clean and kept up but the kids were a little disappointed because there weren't all that many animals compared to our zoo.  They also had nice exhibits with lots of room for the animals to move around which then meant they were far apart so there was tons of walking in between.  But overall I thought it was nice.

 

Skowt loves the Prairie Dogs....I think their claws look a little creepy! 

I'm putting the rest of the pics from the zoo in a gallery on my smug mug site. 

How did you spend your 4th?

We love the zoo!

Another gorgeous day in Wisconsin today! So we took a little time and went to the zoo again. This time to check out the little tiger cubs that were born back in July. They are on display for a couple hours a day now.

Isn't she cute???

Let's see, highlight of the day (besides the cubs) was when we were checking out the lions. They were outside today and there is a viewing area where you can get up close behind glass. The male was relaxing on a rock and the female came over and at first just looked like she was going to lay down next to him. Well he get up, she lays down..........do you see where I'm going with this??? LOL It was funny because then as soon as he started to straddle her me and about 3 other parents were like OK time to go, let's move on!

We love going to the zoo. Well, this zoo. I think Milwaukee County Zoo is one of the nicest we've ever been to. Every time we go somewhere else we always compare it to MKE. But while we love the zoo and think it is one of the best as far as animal exhibits and activities, their food service leaves much to be desired! We decided to eat there today and afterward also decided that it would be the last time!

So, if you've never been and have the chance to go we highly recommend it. But we also highly recommend packing your own picnic lunch or heading somewhere before or after for lunch!

Saturday Family Time

We spent a few hours at the zoo this morning. We have a membership there so it's a nice place to go once in a while when you're looking to get out without spending much money. Especially since we spent an arm and a leg at Great America last weekend!

We visited the traveling bird exhibit featuring birds from Down Under. They gave you a stick with seeds on it to attract the birds, we were all able to get some on our stick and feed them. Here is Tiger with one of the many that she fed.


She took my old digital camera because she wanted to take some pictures too. She was having fun.....taking after her mom with the photography! She did a great job and actually took more photos than I did. She is also looking forward to joining the photo club at school. Here is a fun one she took of me and hubby.

I was able to catch a few of her concentrating on getting her shot!

After we finished up at the zoo we headed out to the car to eat our picnic lunch in the back of the jeep. Then we headed down to the lakefront in Milwaukee to walk around and take some light house pics. I plan to share those pics (along with maybe some more of Tiger's photos) on my photoblog.

It turned out to be a very nice day. It started off a little cool and rainy but it cleared up and the sun finally came out. It was strange not having Skowt with us the entire day though. She was missed!

Day at the Zoo

We spent the afternoon at the zoo today. It was a perfect day for it, sunny and low 70s with a nice breeze. I think this penguin agrees. He was chillin' and sunning himself. You can't see it but there was a light stream of water spraying him.

I took quite a few photos so I'll be posting some over the next few days on my photoblog

Go Peeps!!

Yesterday we participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes at the Milwaukee County Zoo. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather! There were over 7,000 walkers. I sure felt sorry for anyone who just showed up at the zoo not know this was going on because it was packed.

We had a small family team named Paige's Peeps with a purple stuffed peep named Penelope as our mascot. I think we did a great job. We had 8 registered walkers and a few tag along family members and we raised $1575!!! Yay us! They had some activities for the kids before hand. All of them got peeps painted on their faces and Paige got to make a hand print in the shape of a heart for a quilt they were making. There were checkpoints along the way where they could get treats and stickers and have their hands/arms stamped. It wasn't just for the kids, many adults had stamps up their arms including me......see the pic at the bottom. The first pic is the start of the walk. I have pics of our team but didn't want to post others kids pics without permission.

Dueling polar bears

Hit the zoo yesterday, one last time before school starts tomorrow. As did about a gazillion other people! I hate crowds. Lucked out though and got a front row view as the polar bears got into a little spat. Seemed as though the big one in the water didn't want to let the little one in. They were growling and biting at each other for quite some time. Usually they do a whole lot of nothing when I've seen them before.

Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and had a nice Labor day. Back to 20+ hours a week for me now that the kids are back in school.