The Zoo!

This week is spring break. I've tried to have something fun and out of the ordinary on the schedule for every day this week. Most of the things are small and simple (a picnic at the park, being watched by a babysitter - which my kids love, having a cousin over for a sleepover, etc.), but I wanted to do at least one big activity. For us today, it was going to the zoo. I'm not usually a big zoo fan. It's not that I don't like animals, I just don't always see the point in going somewhere just to watch them lay around. However, today was fun. I had such a great time with my kids today. It surprised me a little. I do love doing things with my kids and they are usually enjoyable, but sometimes I do things because I want them to look back at their childhoods with happy memories - not necessarily because I particularly love them (i.e. - the zoo). But today was great. We all had a fantastic time. The weather started off a little chilly (which worried me because we went to the zoo once last year in the cold and we did not last long) but warmed up to the point where we were comfortable but not too hot. We were there almost three hours! Maybe that's nothing to you zoo-enthusiasts, but for us, this was something. If Sammie hadn't been with us we may have lasted even longer.

We saw all the exhibits. Clayton was the map man and had a good time being our zoo guide, Noah loved seeing the different animals and imitating their sounds (he does a mean swan sound - seriously, dead on), Josie was also a huge fan of looking at the animals - and imitating them, and Sammie loved napping almost the entire time. Here is the photographic evidence of our day:
Pouring over the map to figure out our route through the zoo.

One thing I appreciated this time at the zoo that I've never been able to experience before was having the boys actually care about the facts of each animal. Usually we just look and watch. This time Clayton would read the little plaque and we learned some pretty cool facts!

Seeing how far we can jump (none of us are headed to the Olympics for the long jump any time soon).

Usually the otters and the prairie dogs are my favorite (because they're the most animated and entertaining). Today the flaminoes were the best by a long shot!

We were walking away from the flamingo habitat when we heard what sounded a lot like a goose. I didn't think much of it because geese run wild around South Bend (seriously, they're everywhere). Upon cloer inspection we discovered that two of the flamingoes had wandered to the very edge of the exhibit and were standing by the stairs that lead to the zoo restraunt - probably looking for a snack. The kids were able to sit on the stairs and play peek-a-boo with the flamingoes. Yes, peek-a-boo. The kids would duck their heads down and the flamingoes would duck their heads behind the fence, then the kids would pop their heads up and the flamingoes would pop their heads up. They were so close! I had to remind the kids several times not to get too close (we could easily have touched them)! We stayed there and played with those flamingoes for probably 15 minutes or so. It was my favorite part of the zoo for sure!

Josie loved the flamingoes for several reasons. The main one seemed to be that they were pink. Go figure.

Such cool birds!

I'm noticing that I didn't take many picture of the animals we saw, but believe me, we saw plenty. I was just so impressed and pleased with how my kids were handling themselves that I couldn't keep the camera off them. Noah and Josie fight a lot lately. I think they're just too similar sometimes. Both opinionated. Both stubborn. Today they were getting along famously! It gives me hope for their relationship!

 Clayton and Noah watching the monkeys.

 Sammie was in her own happy place.

It just wouldn't be an outing if there wasn't at least one pout session. Fortunately this was toward the end of our visit and so we just took pictures of her and laughed. She snapped out of it.

 I love this picture!

After we'd been there about two hours Kerstin showed up with her kids. It was awesome! The kids had been waiting and waiting to ride the train until they got there. Kerstin was the brave one who rode the train with all 7 of the older kids while I stayed behind with our strollers and the still sleeping Sammie.

 Who just happened to wake up while they were riding the train.

These cousins love hanging out together. Every time they see each other (which is pretty frequent since we live so close these days) you'd swear it was the first time in years. They get so excited. I love that they're close.

This picture just makes me smile. Josie and Tori are becoming good little friends. They held hands almost the entire time. Cute, cute girls.

 I wanted one group shot to commemorate our day. I think we did pretty good.

Shortly after Sammie woke up we left the zoo to go to the park across the street for lunch and a little bit of playing. After today I find myself wondering if we shouldn't get a season pass for the zoo. I'm looking forward to returning!

Now for tomorrow...Grandpa (or "Pumpah" as we like to call him) is coming! New flooring and new adventures await us. Best. Spring. Break. Ever!

Train Museum

Justin was on call on Saturday. Usually, when he is on call on a Saturday, I try to get the kids out and do something special and fun. I do it for the kids, but really getting out helps with my sanity too. I'd been thinking about what to do and I remembered that Elkhart (a city close to South Bend) has a train museum. I'd heard about it from a neighbor and had been meaning to check it out but had never gotten around to it. So I decided that Saturday was going to be the day.

I'd never been to this museum and didn't know anything about it so I needed to call and ask about admission price and hours of operation. When I did, the man on the phone told me I was in luck because they had just redone some of their exhibits and therefore admission was free that weekend! SCORE!! I was so happy, because the only thing better than a super fun outing is a FREE super fun outing! We were in for sure.

My brother and his family happen to live in Elkhart so I called them to see if they wanted to come with us (or at least, if we could bring some of their kids with us). Turns out my sister in law and their two oldest kids were in too! So we went and picked them up and headed to the museum (and left Josie with my brother - thanks Jared)!

I have to say that the train museum didn't disappoint. Even if we had paid admission, it would have been worth every penny. The museum is totally kid friendly. They had exhibits for the kids to touch and anything that they didn't want kids touching, they cleverly put behind glass (genius). I didn't have to spend one second worrying about my kids breaking something and I never once had to say, "Please don't touch that!" It was nice.

The highlights of the museum included: a giant ride-on Thomas the Tank Engine, a large train table with Thomas and Friends figures, a massive working train set for the kids to watch, and a trainyard full of old traincars that you could climb inside and walk around in! My boys are crazy about trains and could have spent days here just watching and playing. This is officially one of my new favorite spots in Indiana!

Here's why:
Playing at the train table. My boys have a train table at home, but this one was much better! They were in Heaven!
Ride on Thomas! (Side note: Noah has started dressing himself. As long as it's seasonally appropriate, I let it go. Today was one of those days. Also, he didn't want me to fix his hair. I said okay. You pick your battles. He won but he looks a little ragged.)

They had these huge display cases with all kinds of model trains. Seriously, huge. Floor to ceiling and covering at least three walls.
Watching the model trains drive on the track. This track took up about half of the room. The kids loved watching it!
Noah and Tori.
Me and the kids in the dining car. I just mostly love Noah's face in this picture. What a ham! (Also, in addition to free admission, they had free popcorn. Awesome.)
Dear Ashley and Anisha, I saw this and thought of you. I hope it makes you giggle. I did. Apparently I'm still 12. Love, Ariane
Outside in the train yard. The tires on this one were HUGE!
Our own little 'Boxcar children'.
I think that, eventually, the goal of the museum is to restore all these old traincars, but it was really cool to see them as they are. They were really interesting. We all loved how blue this one was.
I forgot my camera so Kerstin was the designated photographer. She's so talented. Love Clayton's face peeking out.
Inside one of the traincars. The only rule was: No laying down on anything. We had to enforce it a lot. Gross.
I just love the faces Noah pulls. Someday he's going to look back on this and laugh at himself.
This is the BEST picture of the day (maybe even the best picture of the year). I dare you to look at it without laughing because I've seen it about 100 times since we went to the museum and I still laugh out loud every time. Perfect.
Our trip to the train museum lasted about 2 hours. If we wouldn't have had to rescue Jared from Josie we might have stayed even longer. The kids really didn't want to go. They wanted to go and do everything again. It was so hard to pick a favorite part about this museum. I loved it all, but I think the fact that it was free is going to have to win (this time).

Our day ended with pizza at the Peterson's and ice cream from Culver's. Aside from Justin not being there - it was a pretty perfect day. We'll for sure be going back!