the ZOO

A few weekends ago we headed down to Bismarck for a fun family day at the Zoo.  Our zoo here is Minot was flooded last year and they are still trying to get it ready to re-open.  Most of our parks were also flooded, and while some of them have re-opened they still are far from the original park they once were.  They've only put mulch down in the kids play areas, other than that they look pretty sad.  So, it's hard to find things to do as a family here.  We were limited before the flood and now it's on the verge on hopeless.

So we decided a trip to Bismarck was in order.  We've been hitting it hard working on our house and getting projects done so time as family has been limited. 

We headed out early in the morning to get to the zoo before noon, enjoy the nicer weather before the late afternoon heat came and hopefully a lighter crowd.  The day was perfect and the kids loved seeing all the animals and running around.  We were so glad we made the trip.

Before we headed home we made a stop at Lowes to see if there was anything we could find there, which to much delight we found ceiling fans that I liked for all three bedrooms.

We stopped and got dinner before our drive home and we even made it home at a decent hour, which is impressive for us.

We all had a great day and are looking forward to heading back down there again and maybe we'll enjoy a picnic in the park and their water park, a museum or another of number of things we could do.

Here's some pictures from our family day is Bismarck!

Umm, yeah, that's a tiger a couple inches away from my sons face.  (note: bring a bright balloon with you if you want to get the attention of a tiger or lion)

And those bears are only a few feet away between a couple fences.  The joys of a small zoo.

Zeke heard the monkey from our zoo and ran to go check him out.

what's your wing span?

A picnic at the zoo.

peek a boo!

Janessa's favorite animal, a horse. she was so excited about it!

Taking a rest.

Checking out McKenzie the Moose.

Checking out the camels.

Janessa's other favorite attraction, the train ride, she squealed the whole time!

Shopping at Lowes!  They have the best carts for kids.

Dinner at Krolls Diner before heading home.

This is what happens when I ask McKenzie to smile pretty for a picture.  lol!

And Janessa eating a straw wrapper!