Family Farm Weekend

Now that we've made it through Christmas (more on that later), I'm hopeful that we will have a bit of time to catch up on the many blog posts that we are behind on! As this blog serves as a great way for us to document activities and moments so that we ourselves can reflect on them later, we want to catch up on at least some posts so we can remember all of these beautiful moments that we have with our sons.

One of the best investments we have made since Jonah was born was a family membership to the Milwaukee County Zoo. We go there quite regularly - there was one period where we literally hit the zoo every month within the course of a year (a mild winter helped us maintain that record). It's a great way for us to get out of the house and enjoy seeing and learning about animals. In September, the zoo offered a Family Farm Weekend with activities focused more on traditional "farm" activities rather than animals that come from more exotic places. The weather was nice and we knew we needed a break from thinking about the upcoming move and home sale.

Jonah had the opportunity to participate in his first tractor pull, something we figure would make his Grandpa Gregg proud. He was literally the first kid to get on the tractor, which was a good thing, as Jonah saw the tractor and really wanted to get on it right away. We thought he was going to make an actual attempt to use the pedals on the tractor (he REFUSES to use them on his tricycle, even though his legs are now finally long enough that he can use them), but in the end he just used his feet on the ground. He pulled to the left and made a very spirited attempt to pull the tractor to the end of the short track. Unfortunately, he didn't make it all the way and he wasn't the most gracious about leaving the tractor behind (he wanted to continue to play with it), but it was a valiant effort! I'm sure there will be many more tractor pulls in his future!

Giving it his all.

In addition to the tractor pull, the zoo offered hay rides around one of the central loops. I made the mistake of telling Jonah that we weren't sitting on hay, but rather straw. For the rest of the day, he insisted on calling it a straw ride rather than a hay ride.

This is so much fun riding on the wagon!

As a part of the weekend's activities, the zoo had a variety of demonstrations and opportunities for kids to try their hand at "old-fashioned" activities. The timing wasn't exactly ideal to participate in many of the activities, but Jonah was at least able to try his hand at cranking ice cream (and of course, sampling the ice cream, which almost made us late for the tractor pull).

Are you sure I'm going to get some ice cream?

We made sure that we allowed for some time to play on the zoo's playground as well. Jonah has become increasingly daring on play equipment and we were able to catch him swinging one-handed from the bar at the top of one of the small slides. Jonah was also very interested in walking on the curb in the farm area (though he still required Daddy's hand at certain points).

Daredevil Jonah!

I want to be a big boy, but I'm not quite brave enough to do this alone.

No trip to the zoo would be complete without a ride on the train. Unfortunately, we weren't able to sit in the caboose, but we took last car that we could. Jonah is so excited by trains and proudly posed in the car for us:

We didn't spend as much time as usual looking at the animals for this visit, but a highlight was the elephant exhibit, where one of the elephants was wowing visitors with its reach across the ravine to get food on the other side. This photo doesn't quite do her antics justice.

What a fun day we had! We hope the zoo will offer this activity again and hope to attend again next year.

Pony!

We decided to go to the zoo today because, though not as warm as last weekend, it was still pretty warm. The sky was cloudy and there was some sporadic drizzle, but it turned out to be an enjoyable day. The lions were outside and the cubs were playful. Jonah was excited to see all the animals.

Even the polar bear was finally out.

Jonah even got his first pony ride. We were concerned that he wouldn't like despite saying that he wanted to ride, but he absolutely LOVED it. Michelle won the rock-paper-scissors to be with him while he rode.

After his ride, he kept saying "Pony! Pony!" and pointing back to the riding area. I'm sure he will have more opportunities in the future.

See more pics from our day at the zoo at our family photo site.

It's all happening at the zoo

We took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and our family membership to the Milwaukee County Zoo and headed there on the final day of Grandma and Grandpa Gregg's visit.  For the first time, we decided to check out the Northwestern Mutual Family Farm, which is supposed to give kids the chance to get up-close to farm animals and the like.  Unfortunately, we didn't realize that they stop the animal presentations and close the goat yard at Labor Day.  It was October 10, well after Labor Day. Bummer. 

We did get to see a few cows, and they had a section set up with farm vehicles and the like that Jonah just loved:

Look at me! It's a red tractor, Grandpa Gregg!

Taking Grandma Gregg for a ride.

The milk truck is cool, but not nearly as cool as the tractor.

While the weather was quite nice, many of the animals were indoors.  We did get to see all of the beautiful giraffes (Jonah was more interested in the waterfall that is a part of their habitat),

and the rhino,

and the camel was fun to watch wade in the water.

We also enjoyed seeing the penguins, which we make a point to visit every time we are at the zoo, partially because they are a personal favorite of mine, and partially because they have so many of them and they are always doing something that is interesting for a toddler to see.

We got quite the show from an adult monkey playing with some babies, and saw pretty much all of the primate house as well.  One of the final stops was to visit the same statue that Jonah posed with on his first visit to the zoo, when he was all happy and excited about it.  This time around, he was not one bit interested in posing with the statue (my, how quickly things change)!

I don't want my picture with this guy (I'm talking about Grandpa G.)!

We left the zoo around noon, and not really a moment too soon, as Jonah was falling asleep on the way home.  After a failed attempt to eat lunch (too tired!), we just put him down for a nice, long nap.  It's so hard to gauge how long he can tolerate outings like this!

We certainly got our money's worth from our zoo pass in these last six months; it has to be one of the best values around.  I'm not sure whether we'll really go in the winter, but seeing as it doesn't really cost us anything more, perhaps a visit to some of the indoor exhibits will be worthwhile (and a good excuse to get out of the house).

A Day (Care) at the Zoo

Jonah's room at day care took a trip to the zoo on a Friday in June (the 24th).  As it was the day prior to his birthday party, he brought along an entourage, including Grammy Sweetser and Grandpa and Grandma Gregg.  Parents had to accompany their children, so it turned out that only about half of the kids in Jonah's room were able to participate, but it was a great opportunity to see the teachers and student workers outside the classroom, to get to know the other parents better, and to witness animal antics. 

Probably the most memorable moment of the outing occurred at lunch time while we were eating at picnic tables outside.  Two of the many peacocks that wander the zoo got into a bit of an argument and chased one another under and around one of the tables our group was seated at.  Hopefully Miss Tracy's daughter isn't scarred for life!!

Jonah showing some love to his teacher, Miss Tracy.

Jonah insisted on helping Grandpa push the stroller.

Liam and his daddy, Craig, have some fun. Unfortunately, Liam's graduated to the 1-year old room.

Adeline smiles for the camera.

Jonah and Grammy Sweets

Sharing a laugh with Grandma Gregg.

All tuckered out.

One of the zoo's elephants. 

The zoo's three giraffes. Rahna, the lightest, is not albino, but on the light end of the color spectrum.

The polar bear put on quite a show with his ball.

More photos from the outing are available on our photo website.  For those who live in the Milwaukee area, we highly recommend the zoo pass; we've used it twice already this summer and it's paid for itself.  We're planning to visit again this coming weekend and I'm sure we'll go more before the end of the summer. It's nice to be able to go for just a couple of hours and not worry about seeing everything there.

Grammy Sweetser visits

Wow! It has been a long time since we've made any posts! We completely missed the month of May! Well, let's see if I can make up for that a little.

Grandma Sweetser came out to visit Jonah at the end of April/early May. We had a great week and though he missed the week with his friends at day care, Jonah had a lot of fun hanging out with Grammy for the week. The day after Grammy arrived, we went to the Boerner Botanical Gardens. Because of the cool weather this spring, we weren't expecting there to be too many flowers out, but there was a craft fair going on, too, so we headed over.

Though the temperatures were reasonable, it was *super* windy! We felt pretty badly for the craft fair vendors who were outside. We did get some pictures, though!

We also stopped for some Kopp's frozen custard after the botanical garden!

At the end of the week, we went to the aquarium at Discovery World. Jonah seemed to enjoy seeing the fish, though he was just as interested in the glass and metal of the aquarium tanks.

 Jonah made some pretty funny faces... perhaps he was trying to mimic the fish?

 Grandma Sweetser met Bing Crosby in the Les Paul exhibit.

Jonah took a little nap.

 But woke up energized before Discovery World closed at 4 pm.

See more pictures from our visit to Discovery World on our photo site.

The next day, we hit the zoo. It was the first time Michelle and I had been to the Milwaukee Zoo since the first year we moved here. We picked up a Zoo Pass - it only takes two visits to make up the cost, and we certainly figured that would not be a problem.

 We started in the primate house. Jonah loved playing with the apes!

  Especially this statue of a baby ape!

"Wat-chew lookin' at?"

 Jonah ate and took a nap not long after we saw the primates, but he woke up in time to see the penguins.

 There are TONS of peacocks at the zoo. They hang out with all the different animals and don't seem to have a place of their own.

 Jonah enjoyed watching the seals swim around. He got pretty excited.

 Later, we went to see the sea lion show.

All in all, it was a great day. You can see more zoo pics on our photo site.

We finished it off with some Red Robin for dinner and some awesome carrot cake from Mitchell's Fish Market.

Grandma Sweetser flew home the next day (the day before Mother's Day), but it was a fun visit!