Family Trip to the Minnesota Zoo 7/11/10

The girls sitting on a tortoise statue at the Minnesota Zoo. Isaac was good, not getting into a lot of the pictures.


Katja loved staring at the fish. It was enough to have Kyla contemplating getting some fish for home, but still haven't figured out how to keep Goobers away from the fish!


Kyla and Katja in the rain forest, looking for birds.


Maren, Luella and Kirsten looking at the lemurs. I like to move it move it!


We all loved the butterfly gardens! We learned butterflies land with their wings up, enabling a quick getaway.


Another butterfly eating a banana.


Pretty butterfly with orange wings contrasting with the purple flowers.


We learned moths land with their wings open. They are prettier to take pictures of since their colors are on full display.

Tim has since told Luella that moths are "ugly butterflies". He obviously didn't go to this exhibit with us!


More moths with their wings open, and a butterfly with it's wings up.


Luella trying to pet the beaver who was swimming laps and then saying hi to the people.


The wolf seemed really up close and personal, but was still behind glass.


Katja and Anna riding the wolf. It's really big!


In the middle of the MN Zoo is a splash pad. Oh, how we wish we had known to bring a change of clothes! The kids were drawn to the water like a moth to a flame. They had so much fun and did dry out eventually!


The big kids teaching Luella to step on the fountain to make the water go elsewhere.


Katja slept through all this fun.


Kyla dry and the girls all wet. Let's go see the Arctic animals!


The big brown bear probably wished his stick was a fish.


The boars were bored enough to wrestle a little bit.


Then we saw a herd of camels! We found out later we saw more camels in this zoo than Tim did during his whole deployment (zero).

Then we went to the farm portion of the zoo. The girls loved the cows!

The little kid goat let the girls pet him. This was before we bought the goat food.

The big goats wouldn't leave Kirsten alone once they saw Kyla hand her the goat food. She got attacked!

The pig statue needed riders so Katja and Anna hopped on this one too!

Luella and Granddaddy petting the brand new piglet.

Katja and Kyla taking their turn to pet the piglet.

The exhausted family taking the tractor ride back to the rest of the zoo.

Kirsten, Isaac, Peter, Maren, Karen, Dan holding Luella.

Made you look! (And smile!)

Kyla, Katja and Anna made it to the other side of the tractor.

One of the last animals we saw alert was a tiger!

Then we went to the aquarium portion of the zoo and the sea ponies were the biggest attraction for the three-year-old!

Isaac, Katja and Maren trying to pet the sting rays.

The day ended with gourmet pizza at Umbria and gourmet homemade ice cream at the Ring Mountain Creamery and Cafe in Eagan and a beautiful sunset over Faribault!

Luella's favorite zoo animals - SEA PONIES!

Luella and the kids splashing around at the water park in the middle of the zoo. Kyla really wishes someone had let them know it was there, operational and a change of clothes would have been handy. But the kids sure did have fun!

Warning: Feeding goats in the Minnesota Zoo could be hazardous to your health!

Katja and Kyla having another discussion about what cows say and what they give us.