We Pet an Elephant and Other Outside Fun

The winter has been long and last weekend we had a glimpse of spring – a few days of sunshine and warm temperatures. My kids need outside time and in the winter they are stuck inside too much. Once spring arrives they will spend hours each day outside. Until then I planned to make the most of our nice weekend by spending lots of time outside.

Saturday we went to the zoo and it was so nice to be out for the afternoon without coats. It was the first time I have taken the boys to the zoo without a stroller or wagon – lots of walking. Since Scott was at home recovering, my Dad joined us to help me keep track of the kids. 

We saw the baby rhino and the lions and then they watched the elephants for a while. We always spend a lot of time watching the elephants. As we walked around the corner of the elephant house, Wyatt yelled “Oh No!! Elephant!” and took off. While my Dad chased after Wyatt and took him to see the giraffes, I noticed the elephant that was causing Wyatt to be concerned. They had one elephant out for pictures. Juliana, Ruslan and I got our picture taken with an elephant and then we pet him. I can’t believe that we ended up with a picture of all 3 of us smiling and looking at the camera.

We caught up with Wyatt by the giraffes and the boys spent a while looking at their favorite animal….the fish that swim in the stream by the giraffe.

Next was the monkey house and the boys found a quiet spot to sit and they watched the monkeys for quite a while. Perhaps they needed a break from all of the walking.

We ate lunch and saw the penguins and polar bears and sharks and then they played on the slides.

As we usually do, we took photos on the statue by the Sea Lions.

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Sunday while Juliana was at church, the boys played in the backyard for a long time. They climbed on the big tree pieces – a playground for little boys.

Ruslan took a break.

Here Wyatt is telling me that standing on the tree stump makes him a little bit bigger.

They even posed for a picture.

In the afternoon they dragged all of the bikes out and Ruslan set up a parking lot that he managed on one side of the driveway.

There was bike riding and running and drawing with chalk and of course mud pies. By the end of the afternoon everyone was tired including me.

As I post these pictures today, it is cold and wet and gloomy outside. Dear spring, please come soon!