blank park zoo

 A few weeks ago, Mark ran his Toughmudder race in MN, so rather than take the kiddos and attempt to watch a 3-4 hour race, on Friday, we headed to Ankeny to stay at Jill and Levi's apartment. We had a fun little night away, slumber partying at their place. Then on Saturday, Jill and I packed up some picnic lunches and headed to the Blank Park Zoo with the kiddos. We had a blast. It is a great zoo- fun stuff to see but you can do it in 1/2 day if you want (you can stay much longer if you'd like but with Jace along, missing a nap- this was a perfect amount of time.)

I had to get a picture with the kids and the giraffes. I could watch these amazing animals all day long. Definitely my favorite. Have you ever watched them poop? The weirdest thing to watch. Just saying...

 

And then the monkeys. Addelyn could have watched them all day. They made us laugh out loud a bunch, as they picked things off of each other and ate them. My favorite moment of the day- Addelyn was right up against the fence. A monkey sauntered up, sat down right next to the fence in front of Addelyn, and stared right back at her- inches from her face. Hilarious.

 

Big boy- we tried to get him to do a little stroller nap but of course, that was not happening. My kids officially (as babies at least) have not been ones who like to sleep places other than their beds!

He did great though. After our zoo fun, we got some ice cream and then headed home to be ready to see our "toughmudder" who successfully completed his race. He had a blast and only came home with a few good scrapes (and a sweet mohawk). Good job honey!!!