Let's Go to the Zoo

Yeah for a warm sunny day so we could go visit the Niabi Zoo one more time before it closed for the season. 

This sweet little zoo has grown so much over the years since we started visiting it. This year we bought a year pass since the kids pass was the same amount as a day admission. With the train tickets and free passes for guests and using it to get in free or half off at reciprocal zoos this summer and a few visits here, these passes were so worth it.

Today the highlight was feeding the goats. Rebecca thought this was the BEST THING EVER! She had no fear of feeding them. One time she accidentally got all her fingers in a goats mouth and it bit down on them. She just looked at the goat with a "what were you thinking biting my fingers" look and went on with feeding them. We quickly ran out of food, so the kids started picking it up from under the feeding stations. They ended up picking up way more then we bought. We could have easily spent an hour feeding the goats!

We put some food on Rebecca's babies head and the goat ate it right off. Rebecca thought it was so funny and wanted more food on her babies head. This little baby got picked to come visit the zoo with us today. We can't go anywhere with a baby doll anymore.

The Hippo Statue. 

We always get a picture on this guy. Every time without fail. Simeon was at a Boy Scout camp out in Nauvoo, IL a few hours away from us, so that's why he's not in any pictures.

 The kids always look forward to taking a ride on the train, but sadly it wasn't working today because of construction, so we did the next best thing and took a ride on the Merry-Go-Round. Ammon rode the cheetah behind the gorilla Rebecca was riding, so he could chase her!

 

We also saw some animals doing some funny things today. 

This guy was sticking his head out looking for some treats.

 When we walked back past the giraffes later we saw this guy licking the pole. The kids thought it must have tasted good.

 When we went to see the Gibbons they were swinging all over the place. This darker one found a leaf out of the fence and reached out to get it. It took it on the ledge above us, then swung down with his feet right above the kids heads. He stayed there and stared at us for a few minutes.

When we got to the elephant enclosure we saw this guy reaching his trunk over the wall. It looked like he was trying to bite the wall. After a minute he came back over with a trunk full of dry pine needles from the tree right outside the enclosure.

There are alot of new projects under way here at Niabi Zoo, that will be more finished next spring when it warms up enough to go visit again. We love coming to visit this zoo. It's a pretty small one, and we can see everything in about an hour and a half, and we drive an hour each way, but it's so worth it. Today we forgot all about the reptile house, so we will for sure be going again this spring.

Spring Break 2012

WOW, OH, WOW. We were spoiled rotten with beautiful, sunny, warm (even hot) spring break weather!! I don't remember ever having such amazing weather during spring break. Looking back I'm even more grateful for the amazing weather, because our week didn't go as planned.

Friday the boys and Rebecca planted pumpkin, peas and tomato seeds while Corrine was at science club.

Saturday we wrote up our "to-do" list for the week. It included cleaning bedrooms, reading, Simeon doing his book report, the boys getting hair cuts, Taekwondo and playing.

Monday we stayed home, cranked up the music and cleaned bedrooms. They were sparkling and clean and better organized.

We set the tent up out back for the kids to sleep in. Rebecca thought it was an extension of our house. She brought her dolls and their things out there to play house!

Tuesday we made our lunch and headed out the door to the Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley, IL. It's about an hour southeast of here. Johann wasn't feel great so he stayed home from work.
I decided to get a membership to the zoo for the kids and I, since the kids cost $5 to get in and a membership for them is $5, and comes with 2 guest passes and 2 train tickets.
The zoo was busy. We made the rounds seeing all the animals. The cute baby monkey was everyone's favorite. It was like a little kid with LOTS of extra energy who wanted to jump on all the other monkeys. Some monkey's weren't so fond of it and would be mean to it. The kids would get mad at the mean monkeys.
We had a fun picnic lunch on the wet grass, then headed for the train. About this time Ammon started acting tired and said he was dehydrated and needed to rest. We rode the train and you could see he was tired. It didn't surprise me that he was hot and tired since it was the 1st warm day this spring.



After the zoo we went to Sam's Club in the Quad Cities. Ammon was really dragging and saying he was tired and didn't want to go to Taekwondo that afternoon. He just started last week and loves going.
When we got home Johann felt him and he was super hot. We took his temp and it was 103. He wasn't just saying he was tired, he was sick!!

Weds we stayed home and played. I decluttered and organized and got rid of 6 bags of outgrown clothes and unwanteds. Ammon slept all day or laid in his bed watching movies on the portable dvd player.

Thursday we had more staying home. I ran Ammon to the doctor because his throat was all white and his temp was still 103. The culture came back negative. Darn!

Thursday night Ammon still had a temp of 102, so our trip to the waterpark the next day was no longer happening. I founds friends for the Simeon and Corrine to play with the next day.

Friday Simeon went with Nick ice skating, had lunch and a movie. Corrine went with Lauryn to the library, Buffalo Wild Wings and Build A Bear. Ammon, Rebecca and I had a backyard picnic.


Saturday was much the same. Rest for Ammon, playtime at home for the others. He ran a temp of 102 before bedtime.

We spent alot of time watching these seeds sprout and grow this week. It's been an amazing week to watch these little seeds go from something dry and asleep to something growing and thriving.

Sunday-Ammon's temp was normal all day, and he seemed to be feeling stronger.


Back to school on Monday and I didn't even think to send Ammon only half day. He came home and you could see it in the way he was walking, he was exhausted! He went right to his bed. He rested, then fell asleep a little after 5:15. Poor guy.

(It took him another 5 days before he was back to his normal energetic self.)

Even though our week wasn't full of activites outside of the house and Ammon was sick, we were able to find fun things to do at home. The beautiful weather and being able to get outside ready helped make the week a better one.

Nani & Papa came to town

Nani and Papa came to visit us this week. I wanted to remember the fun things we did each day, so I went day by day with pictures for that day.

Tuesday-Nani & Papa got here before school got out. Rebecca was shy at first. We looked at pictures of them holding her when she was younger. That really helped her to become comfortable with them faster. The older kids ran home from school. We had a HUGE pot of creamy chicken chowder for dinner and played.

Wednesday-Ammon & Papa went to the library to check out books. Corrine & Grace got all dressed up for their dinner with activity day girls. That night Simeon got his Arrow of Light award.




Thursday-Nani & mom went to craft night at the church. Dad & Papa played Wii with the kids. Johann and I got to go on a date to the grocery store!

Friday-Nani & Papa watched the kids while Johann and I went to 3 parent teacher conferences in the morning. In the afternoon we went to the raptor center at Lake McBride. On the road there Papa spotted a dear. We went on a hike and found 2 deer right next to the trail. We walked down to the lake and found alot of fossils in the rocks. Tonight Johann and Simeon went on a campout with the scouts. We had pizza for dinner. Corrine & Ammon put on a movie night complete with punching tickets, snacks and LOTS of rule, like no laughing or blowing your noses! We watched Tron Legacy. Then they had a sleepover in the boys room.







Saturday we went to the John Deere Pavilion. They were working on the project "Can Do". They had 40,000 lbs of canned food they were making into a life size combine. Half the area was taken up and the other half was busy. We left and went the the John Deere Headquarters. We climbed on a combine and lots of other tractors.





We then went to the Niabi Zoo since it was free. It was getting chilly by then. As we ate lunch we could hear the lion roaring. When we got over to it they were asleep. He lifted his head up and looked around, then layed back down. We saw 2 sheep head butting. We feed the goats and fish. The wolves were really active.




Sunday we went to church. We had Johann's family over for a super yummy Thanksgiving dinner.

Monday-Nani & I went shopping. Papa took Simeon & Corrine to Sycamore mall to walk around and get Dairy Queen ice cream. Corrine & Simeon got small blizzards and they were bigger then Papa's medium sundae! They went to the Dollar store. Simeon told me he saw a container of premixed cinnamon and sugar. When they got home Ammon was having some Wii time and we all watched or played with him.

Tuesday-Nani, Johann and I went to the Nauvoo Temple. Rebecca played with Joel, then came home before the big kids got home. Papa met the big kids at home. Simeon taught Papa how to play "Garbage". We had homemade carmel snack mix and hot cocoa. Pretty Pretty Princess was played by Papa and the girls. Ammon played the knight, princess & ogre game with Papa.

If Papa asked Rebecca "Am I your buddy?" She says "No, I'm YOUR buddy." She said lots of "I love you's."

Niabi Zoo

Today we met some friends for a day at the zoo. We got there before everyone else so Ammon got to go on a pony ride to pass the time. He was really excited about riding the pony. I walked a few times around with him, then stopped and watched.

Once our friends got there we started walking around to see the animals. I remembered quarters for food to feed the animals. Feeding the fish and geese were highlights of the day. The geese would eat right out of Ammon's hands. Ammon loved to feed the goats. He was so comfortable letting them eat out of his hand. He was cute trying to talk Charlotte into letting them eat out her hand.


In December the zoo had thier 1st baby giraffee born there. They also had another baby that was a little older. They were fun to watch run around.

Ammon really wanted to see the lion. When we got to it's area, it was starring out the gate away from us. Ammon wanted it to be looking right at him, so we walked around so we could stare on the lion.

We had lunch then went on a train ride. Ammon was so excited to finally get to ride the train-he wanted to go on it all day. HE got to ride with his friend Marcus.

I realized that I didn't get any pictures of Rebecca today. She was happy sitting in the stroller looking at all the animals. She would get excited and call out to them.