Zoo Trip

In a previous post I mentioned that we had been planning to take Froggy Boots on a trip to the Detroit Zoo.  We went last summer as well, but were especially excited to take her this year -- figuring that since she is 2 years old now, she would probably enjoy it much more than she did last year.  And, we were right!

As seems to be the custom, at least since last summer, that my husband's close friend joins us on our zoo trip.  We would have had fun just the three of us, but it seems like we always have a better time when we bring his friend along!  We make a good traveling team!

Our first endeavor was to take Froggy Boots on the zoo train.  Thomas the train is her favorite character right now -- and has been for a while.  But, she is also interested in trains in general.  She decided that the train we rode at the zoo was the train from the book Engine Engine Number 9.  I thought she might decide it was Thomas, but the train did not look anything like Thomas!

When we got off the train, Froggy Boots was very disappointed!  She wanted to ride it again.  But, at $9 total for all of us to ride, one time was going to be it. 

Shortly after the train ride, Froggy Boots came to the conclusion that my husband or I should be carrying her through the zoo.  This despite the fact that we had brought along a beautiful new Radio Flyer wagon for her to ride in -- which, by the way, she loves! 

We gave her the choice of walking or riding in the wagon.  So, she chose a temper tantrum instead.  After pulling her through the zoo in the wagon screaming for what seemed like an eternity, my brilliant husband came up with the idea to go sit down at some picnic tables, have a snack, and do a "do-over."  And, it worked!  Thank goodness!  I honestly thought we were going to have to turn around and go home.

Froggy Boots rode most of the way in the wagon -- eating a bag of goldfish.  The goldfish are how we got her to get back into the wagon.  I'm not usually a fan of using food (or anything for that matter) as bribery, but in this circumstance, I was desperate.  And, she was already eating the goldfish as her snack at the picnic table.  So, I basically was just allowing her to take them with her in the wagon.  She ate almost the whole bag!

Froggy Boots eating goldfish in the wagon.

At first Froggy Boots did not want to even get out of the wagon to see any animals.  But, she eventually caved and ended up seeing everything but the giraffe!  The giraffe, of course, was one of the three animals she was most excited to see.  Elephants and lions were the other two.  Unfortunately, the lion exhibit was under construction and there is no longer an elephant exhibit at the Detroit Zoo. 

The giraffe that Froggy Boots did not get to see because she would not get out of the wagon...

 Here are some of our favorite animals that we saw:

harp seal

polar bear -- standing above us on the glass tunnel!!!

penguins -- I think this was Froggy Boots favorite exhibit!

Although I made the mistake of leaving the animal scavenger hunt behind in the car, we did manage to take a picture of every animal we saw to make into a book for Froggy Boots.  I did forget what a couple of the animals were, so I am just leaving those out of the book.  But, I did remember most of them.  Next time I will write down the name of each animal as we see it.

I uploaded all of the animal picture to the CVS website and put a label under each.  I then did a collage of all of the animals as the cover for the book.  They are ready for me to pick up as soon as I get myself over there to pick them up.  Once I have all of the pictures I am going to laminate them and put them together with book rings.

Another idea I had while I was uploading pictures was to make a matching game for Froggy Boots.  So, I had doubles of all of the pictures printed as well as a double of the collage picture with all of the animals.  I will cut out each of the small animal pictures from the collage and Froggy Boots can match the small animal pictures to the large animal pictures.  I'll take pictures when I have it completed and post them.

Here are a couple other pictures from the zoo trip:

My husband (right) and his friend (left) looking at a "You are here" map.

My husband (left), his friend (right), and Froggy Boots in the wago walking down a trail at the zoo.

Froggy Boots had another momentary relapse of the "carry me" temper tantrum and was pouting in the middle of the sidewalk.  She still talks about how she pouted at the zoo...

Daddy and Froggy Boots looking at some animals.

I'm pulling the wagon with Froggy Boots in it.  My husband's friend is walking along in front.

Froggy Boots looking at some animals -- I think it was some monkeys.

Froggy Boots and I looking through the big glass tunnel at the arctic animals.

All in all it was a good trip!  I think next time we will plan on going to the Toledo Zoo.  It is supposed to require much less walking between exhibits.