Minnesota Zoo

We were on vacation last week and we decided to start it a little early by leaving the Friday before and heading up to Minneapolis for some time with Dad and Thomas.  Luckily enough....Joel and Jamie were able to join us, too!

Saturday morning we had plans to head to the zoo but God had another thing in mind and brought a little, much needed, rain.  So we waited until the skies cleared and went after a late brunch. And a good thing we ate when we did because Ella was apparently hungry. She made a "Happy Plate" by eating all FOUR of her chocolate chip pancakes.



Not to mention half of my bacon. ;-)

As you can tell....no one was excited for the zoo. ;-)



Touching sharks and sting rays.



Waiting for the dolphin show!!!!!



Unfortunately, we were told that it wasn't going to be a FULL show because the dolphins were...ummm.....busy...."socializing". HAHAHAHA!!!



Then came the bears....... Ella is well known, by friends and family, as my worry wart. For example, if Josh or Lauren are in a pool and go under she is worried they are drowning or won't come back up. Or if a fly is near her she assumes its only purpose in life is to hunt her down and kill her. The child is....to put it lightly....a scaredy cat. So when we went to look at the bears.....she freaked! And even after assuring her that there was glass in between us she was still petrified. So much that we had to remove her from the area. And even AFTER we left the area...she was worried about her family that was left behind and cried and screamed until everyone she knew had left the exhibit. I'm so used to this from her that I've learned to laugh it off. And, of course, I had to document the event.



As you can tell....Josh is completely unphased by her screaming. ;-)



We could have watched these Meerkats for HOURS! Such a hoot!



Then Joel, Josh and Lauren got to ride a camel!!! And Ella loved WATCHING them ride the camel. But she was NOT about to leave the safety of her father's arms!!!



Then we were off to the Dinosaur exhibit! The zoo has a huge animatronic Dinosaur exhibit this summer and we were all excited to see it...well, except for Ella. As soon as she saw the first dinosaur turn its head and roar at her she was off like a screaming bolt of lightening! The rest of us thought it was AWESOME!



Then it was time for a little refreshing treat!! It was HOT and the flavored soft served cones hit the spot!!



After snack we figured we'd break up and Dustin and I and the kids were going to ride the Monorail and the rest of the group was going to go off and see the rest of the zoo. Yeah...we paid for the train ride, waited for the train to arrive and then got on the train....only for me and Ella to get off and look for the rest of the group. She completely freaked out as soon as we got into the train car and I wasn't about to be trapped with a screaming child for 25 minutes. Not my idea of fun. So her and I went and checked out her favorite...the penguins...



While I'm certain she would have sat there all day watching them swim around I was worried about not being able to find the rest of the group so we carried on.



We just had an amazing day and we literally weren't even out of the parking lot before all three children were asleep. But Lauren is my little Energizer Bunny and was able to stay up late enough for the fireworks downtown with Dad and Thomas. The rest of us ate our weight in frozen yogurt. Literally.