Neu Family Reunion: Day 6...Como Zoo and Mall of America

On our last day in Minnesota we went to the Como Zoo. Surprise, surprise, right? Cohen and I totally collect zoos. The Como Zoo is free and they offer giraffe feeding, so it seemed like a good choice. I've been to a couple free zoos and I will say this is one of the nicer ones. The giraffe feeding is a little ridiculous because they charge $5 for a leaf of lettuce (YES...ONE LEAF). You have like 10 seconds and then you walk off. You don't really get to enjoy it. The giraffe feeding at Animal Adventure park was 100 times better.

We then headed over to the Sparky Sea Lion Show. It was nothing like the show at the NYC Aquarium, but it was still entertaining. To tell you the truth the little tank was kind of sad looking. Also, the sun was beating down on us so we were like baking!

Clara, one of my nieces, really wanted to go see the butterfly exhibit. I'm not a fan of the one at the Bronx Zoo, so I wasn't all that excited about going, but I'm so glad we did! It was AMAZING. SO much better than the Bronx Zoo! Several of our family members had butterflies land on them, which was so much fun and entertaining to see how excited they got. Cohen wasn't so thrilled with the butterflies. He was afraid of them and really didn't want to stay long.

 

On our way out, we went to check out the sloth. He was a cool looking guy just chilling in the tree. Cohen was lucky to have some amazing cousins around that were willing to lift him up so he could get a better view.

We then headed over to the Mall of America. This was Cohen's first time there and he was so excited when he saw all the rides. He really really wanted to go on a roller coaster, but he was too short. It's so hard trying to explain to a 3-year-old that they can't go on a ride because they are too short.

We went and grabbed some lunch at Shake Shack with the fam and walked around the mall a little. After a quick Old Navy stop, Cohen, Jeff, and I went to try some rides.

Cohen got to go on three rides, which meant that Jeff and I took turns going on three rides because Cohen was too little to go on his own. I can't wait for Cohen to grow 2 inches (he's only 40 inches). I'm not sure which was his favorite. He loves all train rides, but they did have a little roller coaster that Cohen really enjoyed. We finished with the carousel since it's a classic and another favorite of Cohen's.

 

Feeding April at Animal Adventure Park - Harpursville, NY

On our way up to Palmyra, NY to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant, we stopped at Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, NY, so Cohen and I could feed and pet April the giraffe! Eek! While checking out travel time to Palmyra, I realized that we would be passing the park and decided to check it out. It was the perfect half way point for us to get out and stretch our legs and have lunch before making the rest of the trek to Palmyra.

I've been wanting to go to the park for some time, but couldn't justify the 3 hour drive to spend 1 hour at a zoo. This is the park where April the giraffe had her baby (for those of you that watched the birth on the Facebook via the live stream)

We had a fantastic time! It was totally crowded but it wasn't too bad. Cohen loved walking around and feeding all the animals. Surprisingly, his favorite part was feeding some of the animals through the white pipes or "slides" as he liked to call them. This place it totally out in the middle of nowhere and it cash only, so basically who ever owns this place is making a killing. :) I'm glad we went because it was fun to feed and pet the animals, but I don't think we will be making the trip again soon (unless Auntie Harmizzle comes out and wants to go)

 

Another day....another Zoo!...Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn

It's official....Cohen and I are collecting zoos. :) I did a quick count and we have now been to seven different zoos and two aquariums. Maybe that doesn't seem like a lot, but it feels like a lot to me! We still have one more zoo in New York (Queens Zoo) and I'm hoping to hit up a zoo in Minnesota when we are there next month.

Last week Cohen and I made our way to Prospect Park in Brooklyn to go to the zoo and a playground. The zoo is really really small, but it was so beautiful! There were some AMAZING flowers and the grounds were just lovely. They really didn't have very many animals, so we didn't spend much time there, but I'm still glad we made the trek out there.

We then made our way through the park to a playground that was near our subway stop. Cohen LOVED the playground. It was HUGE! The water feature was kind of lame, but it was ok because there were so many other things to do.

Back to the Cape May Zoo

Cohen and I dropped Jeff off at his conference in Atlantic City and we headed down to the Cape May Zoo. I took Cohen here in October 2015 and enjoyed it, so I figured it would be a good way to spend our afternoon while Jeff was in meetings. After several visits to the Bronx Zoo over the past couple of months, the Cape May Zoo has lost some of it's luster, but hey...it's FREE! We didn't have much time there since it closes at 4:30pm, but we saw a few animals. Cohen was more interested in playing at the playground, so we spent the last 30 minutes there before heading home to meet Jeff for dinner at Morton's Steakhouse.

Grandpa A. Visit May 2017: Bronx Zoo

Clearly we really love zoos, because the day after visited the Central Park Zoo, we went to the Bronx Zoo. I really LOVE the Bronx Zoo. You get so close to the animals and they have so many. Dad really enjoyed the zoo too!

This was the third time I've been to the zoo in the past couple of months and I still haven't seen everything! It's just so big and there's so much to do and see. Cohen rode the Bug Carousel three times and loved every second of it. He insisted on riding on the blue bug. The monorail was open so we rode that too. The zoo was absolutely beautiful with all the green trees. I feel so lucky that Cohen and I get to visit so often.

Grandpa A. Visit May 2017: Central Park

On Monday Grandpa and I took Cohen to the Central Park Zoo! Dad's visited several times and I've never taken him to the Central Park Zoo! Since he (and Grandma) gave us a zoo membership for Christmas, I figured it was about time we went. He was expecting it to not be so great (probably because I always said it was nice but small and not worth the price of admission), but he loved that it was small and you could see everything really quickly. It's also really beautiful in the summer with all the ivy.

I was thrilled with our trip because usually the Red Panda is sleeping or hiding and this time he was out eating and climbing around! We missed the bears because they were being lazy and sleeping, but I got a chance to see the penguin feeding!

We then headed to the Plaza to get a Black and White Cookie (Cause why not!) and then headed to a diner for lunch. All in all it was a good day.

The picture below (right) is totally a perfect representation of Grandpa's trip here. Cohen would not stop licking him (Poor Grandpa.)! Cohen was running on a whole different level. He was crazy hyper and soooooo excited to see Grandpa.

Auntie Harmizzle Visit 2017 - Bronx Zoo

Yesterday Kari, Cohen, and I headed up to the Bronx Zoo! We had a fantastic time. I really really enjoy the Bronx Zoo and can't wait till the Spring/Summer when more of the exhibits open. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa Anderson bought us an annual pass so we can go as many times as we want.

Cohen is taking after Grandma Anderson as keeper of the map. He wanted to hold it and decide which way we went. He's turning into such a big boy!

 

 

 

Washington DC Trip: A day (and a half) at the Zoo!

Jeff and I decided to travel down to DC to go see the cherry blossoms, unfortunately, due to crazy weather, the peak prediction (which was updated twice) was off and we were several days early. Oh, well. We will try again next year! We still had a fantastic time in DC!

On the first day Jeff dropped me and Cohen off at the zoo while he went to the hotel to work. Cohen and I both loved it! It's kind of hilly (my fitbit thought I walked 36 flights of stairs), but the exhibits are great! I think our favorite from the first day were the pandas and the sea lions. The pandas were so cute! The sea lions have a really fun exhibit. There is an area where you can throw a ball up in the air and the sea lions do little flips in the water. Cohen thought this was the funniest thing ever!

I will say that it was totally weird that we could just walk in! The zoo is free....(well, there is no fee to enter. It's paid for by our tax dollars.) If only all my tax dollars were spent in such an enjoyable way.

We had such a great time at the zoo we decided to go back on the way home. Jeff wanted to see the pandas :) and who knew that Jeff likes zoos! There was so much that Cohen and I didn't see, so we had no problem going back!