Small Graces: The Zoo

Almost a year ago now, we decided to get memberships to Chicago's Brookfield Zoo and it's one of the best $100 we've ever spent. I've lost track of how many times the kids and I have visited, but every time we go they are super excited and we are still discovering new things. It's a huge zoo with tons of great animal exhibits as well other extraordinary additions that make it an exceptionally fun place for young families: a summer splash pad, the Hamill Family Play Zoo (think small children's museum), playgrounds, a petting zoo, picnic areas, etc.

Maca joined the kids and I for a visit this past Thursday and it turned out to be a perfect day - well, as "perfect" as days can be when they are spent with three young children. Once we arrived at the zoo we had a mini picnic in the car since I was afraid it'd still be too cold to eat outside. The weather, however, was quite warm - they boys went coatless the whole time. We didn't see a lot of animals on this trip because the kids really wanted to go the the Hamill Family Play Zoo and spend some time on the playgrounds. The animal exhibits we did see were a special treat. Apparently, early afternoon is the active time for big cats because they were all putting on a show The lions particularly were a delight. The male lion did lots of yawning, grooming, played with the female a bit, and pressed it's nose against the viewing window. Before we left he even let out a couple roars! A zoo keeper passing by says he roars everyday at 4:00 - who knew lions where so scheduled?

picnic in the car
*for all the seatbelt fundamentalist - we were parked, the engine was off : )

a bird protecting her eggs

a sly egg-stealing snake

lucky this mommy bird doesn't mind the extra space

face painting. they were butterflies or, as little lady calls them, "butterflowers"

petting a rabbit

you can't expect to skip nap-time with out a fallout - luckily, this was the
only one

maca enjoying a puppet show

a prowling tiger

this pictures makes me giggle

it's a little hard to see but the lion's nose if right under big buddy's hand -
talk about happy kids!

*this post isn't an advertisement, we just really enjoy the zoo. You can read a post about one of our other visits here.

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A Little Red Cardboard Barn

We've finished our farm unit and are moving on to a new theme tomorrow - but before we do I wanted share the barn we made. The wooden farm animals came with a beautiful handmade ark that we gave Big Buddy for Christmas a couple years ago. I would someday love to have a wood barn but it's currently not in the budget. So in the mean time we decided to improvise and make our own. I stumbled upon this perfectly sized milk box (4 gallons per box) while subbing and thought it would be sturdy enough to handle play. Hubandie and the boys used an x-acto knife and wood glue to build a barn shape. to get the doors to fold out hubandie used an x-acto knife and scored the inside of the cardboard We then painted with a basic primer and outlined a window and a door with painters tape. cardboard is very porous so priming is a must if you want decent coverage Big Buddy however insisted that we add more windows so it looked like the barn in our book The Big

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Preschool Syllabus: Dr. Seuss

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Jack-O-Lanterns on the Fridge

Last fall I saw the idea for refrigerator pumpkins with face pieces in FamilyFun Magazine and have been anxious to recreate them ever since. It was pretty quick and easy and since the only thing we didn't have on hand was magnetic sheets ($1.50 with coupon at Joann's) it was also very cheap. my supplies: magnetic sheets, orange & black construction paper, white pen, tacky glue *i know they have self adhesive sheets but my Joann's didn't carry them glued (very messily) and ready to cut Both the boys were quite enthused when they discovered them after rest time :) Hopefully it will keep them entertained until we carve real pumpkins.

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Joyfully Weary

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