Day two of our staycation was supposed to be better in the weather department so we decided to head out to the Blank Park Zoo. The zoo opens at 9:00 which is awesome because we are early risers so we were there a little after 9:00. It was surprisingly busier than I thought (but not nearly as busy as it could have been) because although it wasn't raining, it wasn't a beautiful day. Elsie had a great time (even though I think she was still feeling not 100%). She loved pointing at the animals and she would repeat a lot of the names as we would say them.
The first stop was the Australian exhibit. For this one you enter in through the gates and are among the animals. Elsie loved spotting the Wallabies all around us.
After that we were walking around and spotted an elephant. Right now Elsie is obsessed with elephants and gets so excited when we come across one in the books we have been reading. Well this elephant was just a statue so we thought we would go take our picture by it. Boy, were we surprised when we got close and it sprayed water at us. Haha
Moving on to the cats. Everything was a Lion (she has now become obsessed with lions after our visit to the zoo). She also roars like them.
I actually think one of Elsie's favorite things at the zoo was this jeep. She threw a mini fit when it was time to move one.
After the cats we checked out the Seals and Sea Lions.
Not too sure about this rhino statue
Of course we had to try to take her on the carousel. The last time we went on one was when we went to Omaha. It didn't go over too well. This time she LOVED it and didn't want to get off when the time was over. Yay!
We made a short stop at the Koi Pond to feed the fish.
Stopped to watch the sea lion show
Went for a ride on the train
And ended with the aquariums.
It was a great time and like I said, I think she really did enjoy it.
After the zoo, Elsie fell asleep the minute she was strapped into her carseat. So we grabbed a quick lunch at the drive thru and drove around exploring again. We ended up at Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt. As we drove in we notice a Rendezvous was going on. It was open to the public but since Elsie was sleeping we chose not to get out ;). There were tons of tents and tipis set up and people dressed from attire in that era. It reminded me of a coworker from camp who I believe would go to this particular one to get some program supplies. The park was an interesting find. Neither of us knew it was back there. There is a campground you can stay at and you can rent kayaks and canoes. The campground was pretty flooded and despite it being Memorial Day weekend was almost vacated. It would be a nice afternoon to head back out there and take one of the wetland trails once things dry up a little bit and not everything is so flooded. It was neat to discover a new outdoor place so close to home.
We finally made our way back home and stopped in at John's parents where his sister and the girls were at. Elsie had fun playing around for a little bit before we headed home to play more outside and get dinner going. It was about this time things turned south for me. I started to get achy and the chills. Unfortunately, by the time I went to bed that night I was in full sick mode with a fever, sore throat, and achy all over. Not a great way to end such a wonderful day. Well onto day three of Staycation 2013.
Elsie is Precious!
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