Kreiser Connections: The Zoo Crew

Summer is ALMOST official around these here parts. The Canadians like to brag (mainly my husband!) that they are in school for 20 extra days than the Americans, therefore are smarter. While I'm not completely certain on that... I will say that being in school in June seems a little unfair!!!

But... our dear friends home school, and since they got their schooling done a little early, we were able to join them on a "field trip" to the Winnipeg zoo before summer break officially began for everybody else! All eight of us girls (EIGHT!!!) loaded in our Expedition, complete with stroller, coolers, snacks, eight water bottles, five purses, two cameras, and one car activity bag ... and got ready to walk for all we were worth!

Except for this little crew member... she had her fair share of pampering for the day! She just had to barely make a peep and she had several willing helpers at her side! :)

The penguins were featured at the zoo this month... so we were pumping that up for the kids... only to be a tad disappointed to see three little penguins behind a tiny little glass window, looking rather sleepy! Thankfully the polar bear was right next door and we could quickly adjust their attention to him!

He's just 18 months old (him and Caidrie were very close in age!) and was so cute! But given the whole double fence and barb wire thing... might not be as friendly as he looks?

I'm going with the whole he just likes his own space thing, rather than believing he's not as soft and cuddly as we all imagined him to be!

(Just kidding... for all of those that feel the urge to e-mail me polar bear disaster articles!)

Our snack break was "sponsored" by Quacker caramel rice cakes! They were a hit all around!

We stopped by this little pond to let Caidrie touch the water... and couldn't miss a photo op of these lovely ladies! An amazingly beautiful mama and her beautiful, beautiful girls... on the outside AND on the inside!

I told the girls we had like 4 seconds to take the picture, then I set Caidrie down, snapped away, and THIS is when Caidrie was making her way to the edge of the pond! She's quick... so we only got three pictures snapped before she had us all running!

The Chariot folds down incredibly well... which was great since we were tight on space... but somehow in the whole fitting it in the vehicle process... the handle got left at home!

At first I thought we were going to have to simply carry on without a stroller... but given how much stuff we had... that was not a good option!

So we each took a turn driving it... and in all it's inconvenience... it turned out to be not so super bad. You see how much stuff is on the second seat beside Caidrie? That's in addition to the whole trunk being completely full! Eight girls, let me remind you... EIGHT girls! No more explanation needed! :)

So... an odd fact you probably don't know about me. I'm NOT a bird person. They kind of gross me out. Not all birds... some are cute and little... but some are well, just not!

So when we got to the flamingos...

... and I saw their necks twisting around like this... I was almost gagging!!! Though the convenience of resting ones head on ones back probably does come in handy at times! :)

And something neat about the Wpg zoo is that they have peacocks walking all around the place.

They are GORGEOUS creatures... but these particular ones are fully aware of it and like to make us all aware of it as well! It's fair to say their beauty has gone to their heads!

Me, along with everyone else at the zoo, pointing a camera in their direction probably doesn't help the peacock pride issue. But most probably don't take pics of their back side! :)

I couldn't help it. The fluff just intrigued me!

Miss. C was bound and determined to touch one, and low and behold she did! :)

Wild animals about describes it!! :) Hardly... we had six very well behaved girls that day! It made it a lot more pleasant for the mama's... that's for sure!

We had the opportunity to take a mother daughter pic of me and my girls... when someone in particular wouldn't cooperate. Only to take this pic like 3 minutes later. I shall never understand! :)

But she is pretty darn adorable!

As is this one!

She may not be my niece but she's about as close to one as she could be!! :)

Since we missed our photo op... here's the best of the day! Every time I look at Caidrie's face I can't help but laugh!

And she did her fair share of that with Miss. J. These two were little BFF's!

Of all the animals in the zoo... the two biggest things of interest were the HORSES (which these girls have at home!) and the AIRPLANES flying over head!