This morning Tim & I took the girls and met some friends at the zoo. We've never taken our girls to the local zoo. (I know!).
I carried our 1-year-old in the ERGO (best carrier ever...in case you're wondering)...or on my shoulders.
She pointed and smiled at everything - she's the most peaceable baby.
Our 3-year-old fed the giraffes. They have really long tongues and are a little bit slobbery.
She then proceeded to ask for the map and to "direct us" to which animals to see next.
On the way home, I asked her which animal was her favorite. "The anteater!" she said enthusiastically. "No..." she said, changing her mind, "The snake!"
My favorite? Probably the monkeys. But - not to get all animals-rights-activist on you - it kind of breaks my heart to see animals all caged up like that.
WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you enjoy going to the local zoo? Do you have a membership? Why or why not?
That anteater is cool! I havent been to the zoo in a long time. Great pictures!
We love our local zoo! I think it is the perfect size for short outings and it stays surprisingly cool in summer. There is even a mini splash park. I also love the central location for meeting up w/ friends that live waaay on the other side of town. We had a membership before #2 which was nice bc we didn't feel like we had to get our $$ worth each time so we could just popin whenever. Time to renew- this time as a family though bc big sis is >2. Glad you had fun. Maybe we can caravan sometime...
We have visited the local zoo a couple of times, and we usually enjoy it, but we have a membership to the Desert Museum instead. It's a little less cagey-feeling, and the views from the trails are wonderful. My husband knows the latin names of a lot of the native plants here and appreciates that they are as much a focus as the animals.
we LOVE the zoo. we've been members since before we had kids ;-)
its our favorite outing!
We're also regulars at the zoo. We have a family membership that was given to us as a gift last fall - we have plans to renew once the year is up. I'm glad that your little family enjoyed visiting it!
I desperately want an Ergo! Now that my son wants to get down and walk...no, now pick me up and carry me...oops, put me down again, something that buckles around my waist and hangs down when he's not in it, but easy to get him back up on my back when he's tired would be ideal!
I don't have a zoo membership, but we tend to go often. Our local library has a season pass that can be requested ahead of time that provides free admittance for two adults & two children. My sister and I get together at the zoo with our children fairly often, using this pass.
I like zoos where the cages are less obtrusive. But there's no zoo nearby...
I LOVE the zoo and had a season pass before I even had kids! But now we are in Africa and no zoos, just safaris! But you aren't allowed to take children under the age of 14 on safaris - bummer. So there are some petting farms we haven't been to yet. BUT, we DO have a herd of monkeys that visit our yard ever couple of weeks or so - no cages - just coming to eat the berries on our trees.
the zoo is just a few miles from our house, and we try to go once a week when the weather is nice. I love the baboons.
and the ergo, it's becoming my favorite carrier too!
We do have a membership and try to go at least once a month. I love how fast the kids grow and the option to see them understand how animals get, or how big an elephant can grow... it's cool.
I've got to admit: I'm not much of a zoo person. My husband is originally from Omaha which, as he tells me often, has the "second best zoo in the USA". We go there now and again but I'm not too into it. I'm more of a hiking, out of doors in nature kind of gal. But he loves it and so do the tinies so we go now and again.
When I asked my son what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said "feed the giraffes!"
We had a year pass, but it has since expired. It was a good deal and a gift from my mom. But summer's are so hot that we didn't use it much from june thru sept. Another cool place to take the kids is the children's museum, but the membership is quite a bit more.
My husband said that when he was growing up, the zoo was a bunch of cages stacked on top of each other. Heartbreaking.
Stephanie you are so pretty :)
Amy W may be right, but I really dislike the zoo. I prefer to see (what animals I can) in their natural habitat.
I am the biggest animal lover in the world, and I LOVE the zoo. Everyone needs to remember that zoos have had an instrumental part in educating and therefore gaining the interest of the public in all kinds of different species that they otherwise never would have had any contact with. Zoo breeding programs have also been key in maintaing populations of species that otherwise may have gone extinct. Think about the bigger picture!
I absolutely love the zoo. Our closest zoo is about 2 hours away, in St. Louis. We haven't been in a while, but have been wanting to go for quite a while now. It is adorable watching a child's face when they are watching the animals. So priceless!
I would have to say my favorite animals are the monkey's as well. They are so neat to watch. They kind be kind of disgusting..haha, but they are just animals. It is also pretty sad to see them caged up. :-(
Glad that you and your family enjoyed your day! That's great. Have a great weekend.
I'm not a big fan of zoos. Animals in cages/enclosed 'habitats' - whether bred in captivity or rescued or whatever - make me sad. However, the few times we go, I see how thrilled the girls are to see the animals; and yes, I am thrilled to see my favorite: the otter!
So we don't have a membership, but when our local library has the zoo Culture Pass checked in, we'll grab it and go. (Does Tucson do the Culture Pass thing? I think it is a wonderful way to see all the musueums. The zoo/science museum/children's museum passes are hard to come by, but every once in a while they'll be in. Sadly, the admission passes for those sites now only admits 2 instead of 4 like it used to, and like other site allow. Still, it is a great resource.)
How is that possible you've never been to the zoo with the girls? Are you sure about that ;) tee hee
I love the zoo. Though our local zoo really isn't the most impressive.
I remember going to the zoo every single week, sometimes more than once, as a child since we lived close and were homeschooled.
I have a lot of fond memories of the zoo.
Looks like you made a few for your family now, too!
Nell
We don't have a zoo close by. We do have the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which of course is not a zoo, and we love going there. I know both of my kiddos would LOVE the zoo. We are planning on hitting up the SF Zoo sometime this spring or summer! Your girls are just beautiful...like their mom!
It looks like y'all had a blast! Levi is so crazy about the zoo that we're considering a membership.
Our local zoo is over an hour away. We've made it there a few times, but not in the past year. I was thinking about taking my 3 year old to the farm babies exhibit...until we went to our neighbor's house and the turkey, goats, and chickens freaked her out (even the baby ones). Maybe we'll try later this summer..
I have a love/hate relationship with the zoo. We typically go only once a summer. My kids love it so there's no problem there. And it's a great outting to get out of the normal boring routine. But it's just so much. So many people. Kinda dirty. Kids get tired and hungry and there's not real good places to eat. The buildings are smelly. And you're right...the cages are way too small. And I'm typically not the kind of person who would say something about that.
So...like I said...once a summer.
PS..You look way awesome in green!
awww she's so cute, The anteater...lol
I love the zoo, but ours is so small. We go sometimes. No membership
I love my ergo (and beco, and wrap and... Yeah I have an addiction)
We do love the zoo. We have to drive to LR for the closest one, so we don't got all that often, but we always have fun when we do. Last time we went I was hugely pregnant with Calleigh. DH joked that the zoo walking might put me in labor.
Our Zoo in St. Louis is free, so we go several times a year. The children love it! We can also get into the Childrens Zoo and ride the carousel free if we get there in the 1st hour. Not too hard to do, since the kids get up early.
Our closest real zoo is in Philly, over an hour away, and I haven't taken my son there yet but hope to this summer. We do have a nice local one with more animals native to our area.
I also have that feeling about feeling bad for the animals caged up for our entertainment. I figure that they're treated extremely well with better food and care than in the wild, but it still makes me a little sad. Circuses on the other hand, I avoid. I still don't believe that animals are treated fairly there.
My kids and I love the zoo. In fact, my eldest loves it so much that she actually gets angry if she hears that I have taken my toddler son to the zoo without her. "But Mommy, you know that's my favorite place." she cried the last time I went without her.
Our current zoo membership lapsed recently, but we will definitely renew. As a family of 5, it only takes two visits a year for the membership to pay for itself.
Love the zoo! We always get a membership. Great way to spend sometime outside and the membership is such a good deal!
My kids love the zoo :) My three year old loves the playground there (of course...) and my 20 month old adores the monkeys (fitting!)
We ended up just getting a membership the other week for this summer. It's close by, and will pay for itself in two or three visits. I figure it's a great place to go run around for a morning or afternoon!
We love the zoo. We have two beautiful large zoos in our city and several smaller petting zoos. We go pretty regularly, but we don't have memberships. I'm with you, though--while I love seeing the animals and talking about them with my little boy, at the same time I am sad to see the animals caged up and away from their natural environments.
We love out local zoo! We have a membership and definitely get our money's worth. Our zoo also has a great playground to get the kids running around.
I took my girls for the first time too...just about a month ago. How fun! I used to take my sons alot since we lived 2 mins away back then.
You reminded me that we have never been to our local zoo either. We've lived here four years and I cannot figure out why. I love giraffes! I don't think ours has anything that isn't native to Alaska though. Hmmmm...I will have to check. THANKS!
K.
Stephanie, I feel the same way about the zoo - there's something about all the animals being caged up that makes me sad. I know that most (if not all) of those animals have been bred in captivity and don't know anything different, but I know what they're missing, and I'm not sure that I can stomach the idea that they're penned up for my amusement. Plus, I get the distinct feeling sometimes that the bigger predators (bears, cats, etc) are just living depressed lives.
That being said, if/when I have kids, I will probably take them to the zoo at some point. It's never going to be at the top of my list of things to do, though.
We are regulars at the zoo. It's one of the few kid-friendly places to visit around here. Jayce loves the otters, but my favorite is the polar bear. Our membership just expired - time for me to renew!
Yes, we enjoy the zoo. I think we've gone once a year since we've lived here? Something like that...so not enough to make a membership worthwhile, but enough to have some fun. :) Did you go inside the room with the reptiles, the coloring pages, and the monkey window? It's one of my favorite places to go at our zoo when it's hot. It allows for a nice break, but there are still some animals to see and something for the girls to do.
We love the zoo - especially the Giraffe feeding! I honestly love our smallish but, in my opinion, wonderful local zoo!
We live relatively close, so we do have a membership. The 3 year membership in fact. We use it frequently! We can go for an hour or two and not worry about "getting our money's worth." We just stay as long or as short of a time as we feel like that day.
They also have a little train ride just outside of the gates that my kids love. Glad you enjoyed the day!
I love animals and I love taking my daughter to visit the zoo. We do not have a membership though-the closest "big" zoo is a bit far from us, so it would not pay for us to have a membership. My daughter has been saying she wants to be a vet consistently now for several years and truly loves all animals, so any chance we have to do anything with animals (even the pet store), we take it. Whether a zoo or pet store or shelter, I always feel a bit sad for the animals when I think of how they are caged up though. I try not to think of that but it is really hard not to!
First I love our ergo too!!!
we love going to the Zoo, bu membership but it's not expensive so we go whenever we have a chance :-)
We took our girls, at the urging and with the company of one set of grandparents this past fall to the zoo for the first time. Our girls are very familiar with animals because my grandparents, parents, and uncles own farms of various types. My girls enjoyed seeing the different animals that they'd only seen in books before, but I think their favorite part was the playground and icecream cones afterward!