Sunday’s weather was absolutely gorgeous – not too hot, not too cold and best of all : no rain!

We decided the day before that it would be a great day to take the kids to the zoo. We got an early start and picked up some breakfast sandwiches and munchkins at Dunkin donuts before leaving for the zoo (the kids had cereal at home before we left). You have to get there early, especially on weekends, if you want a chance of finding parking.

Being a free zoo with an attached park with multiple playgrounds and a beach – it gets a lot of visitors, especially in the summer months. When we first moved here it took us a long time to figure out the best times to show up and not be walking forever to get to the entrance. Weekday mornings aren’t as bad but either way I always like to get there before they open.

We got there thirty minutes early and after the kids ate a couple of munchkins we enjoyed our breakfast sandwiches while the kids played on the playground. We only got to sit for a few minutes before going to assist in swinging and monkey bars – but it was still a nice leisurely way to start a Sunday morning. The kids ran circles around us to their hearts content and then we headed to the zoo.

I’ve been to this zoo probably a dozen times since moving here four years ago and I always see something new to enjoy. The kids loved looking at all the animals and changed their minds multiple times about which animal was their favorite. Mine were probably the turtles this time – there was the cutest little turtle swimming in the herpetarium and their largest turtle was also out eating breakfast when we walked by. This almost never happens and I was maybe a little too excited about it. We also got our obligatory kids on the turtle statue picture and kids pretending to be turtles in the Zoo Playground pictures.

We made jokes about what is inside a camels hump (MM actually knew the answer from a school field trip) and whether the camel and the giraffe are best friends (their exhibits are right next to each other). We tried to smell the flamingos (Craig Ferguson joke), we looked at the Zoo Garden which features tons of crops that the animals like to  eat, labeling each plant with the name and what animals eat it. We looked at snakes and turtles and cockroaches and shark teeth. We listened to the seals make really funny sounds before going under the water (I’m assuming he was taking a deep breath before the dive). Basically we rocked the zoo.

Most of the time I am on my own with the kids at the zoo as we tend to go during the week when it’s less crowded but I love going with Dan because it means we can each kind of watch just one kid and going to the huge playground inside the zoo is much less overwhelming. We each had a chance to get one on one time with both kids which is always nice – and we got a lot of exercise walking all over the park and through the playgrounds!

What is your favorite animal to see at the zoo?