Labor Day Adventures, Part III

We continued on with our busy trip Thursday, even though we were still tired and sore from our downtown gallivanting. I convinced Auntie Kelli to come and spend the day with us, and we took the girls to Lincoln Park Zoo.

Chicago is home to two wonderful zoo's. For all intents and purposes, Brookfield Zoo is the place to go for all the bells and whistles. However, we grew up going to LPZ, and it holds really special memories for me. Plus, it's FREE. (After you spend $30 on parking and $40 for icky zoo food, of course...) I digress. For the record, Milwaukee has a fabulous zoo, too... you know, if you ever visit Chicago for the mere purpose of touring the area zoos...

After we parked, we entered the gardens. I think Sassy was just extremely excited that Auntie Kelli was with us! Little A was pretty stoked, too, since the addition of a third adult afforded her the opportunity to be schlepped around all day!



Sassy liked climbing up on every rock to have a moment's rest:



I was a bit concerned with the proximity Sassy and Ty were to the water. Ty's response... "It's not deep"... as if my only concern about the extremely green, slimy, plant-filled water was the depth...



Meanwhile, Kelli & Little A looked on:





Sassy had a lot of fun having Daddy's attention all to herself!



Next, it was off to the zoo!



We checked out the lazy, sleeping lions, and then headed to a lesson stand. The employees taught us all about turtles and snakes!



We saw several more animals, and decided it was time for lunch. Sassy was impelled to sit in the middle of the sundial:



After lunch, we went to check out the seals:



Sassy decided she wanted to join the seal family for a bit:



Oh, and then we visited my absolute.favorite.animal.at.the.entire.zoo:



On our way to the lower level, we met an employee who had a stuffed polar bear paw to show us. It was HUGE. Now I have a better understanding of why you never want to be swiped by a polar bear:



They are just the cutest things under water. It was great to watch her swim:



Sassy was convinced that the polar bear swam to her specifically. She talked about it for days:



We has good intentions to visit the farm and continue on walking over the bridge covering Lake Shore Drive to see the beach and let the girls splash around in Lake Michigan. However, we decided it best to save that for our next trip, as everyone was tired and Little A was getting cranky.

All in all, we had a great day at the zoo, and we headed home to get ready for an exciting 3-day weekend!

To be continued...