Do I Live in a Zoo?

Our kids both LOVE reading the book "Love you Forever." It is funny to see as each year passes how more and more of the book becomes something I can relate to.:) Thankfully, my kids haven't flushed anything of value down the toilet...yet (but there is always room for #3 to improve on where the other ones left off!). I laugh when it talks about the mom feeling like she is in a zoo. Some days between these wild and energetic kiddos and all the clutter, that just seems like an appropriate description for our house. :) I guess it is nice to be able to laugh about it though. It is all the more enjoyable that way.

Anyhow, we like to visit real zoos more than we prefer to live in one so we usually get a zoo membership wherever we move to. The Peoria Zoo doesn't have all the great animals we had in Wichita, but we really enjoy it as a place to get out for a walk. I took Eli and Hailey by myself a few weeks ago on a day I could tell the kids just needed to get out of the house and run off some energy. I packed a quick picnic lunch for us as well to make it a full morning out.

The park had begun decorating for its upcoming Halloween night and the kids were way more entertained by all the blow-up characters than the real life animals. There were even four new baby tigers that I could have watched all day, but the kids were completely uninterested. So we opted for a photo with Mickey instead.

And this was the only other picture I took all morning. I am beginning to notice a trend that when I am with the kids by myself, there are very few photos taken. I think I just need an extra arm or two to make it all happen. :)

We all had a good time!

The next day Marc thought we should go check out the Wildlife Prairie State Park that some people had mentioned to us. We were told they had a train ride that went through the park. We knew Eli would really love that so we packed another picnic lunch and loaded up the kids (I'm so thankful our kids like peanut butter. It is such an easy thing to pack for a picnic. I wouldn't ever eat a PB sandwich as a kid. It took me being a camp counselor in college to finally get over it!)

This was another great trip we all enjoyed! I think we will be back.