COMO ZOO field trip

The finale to Blake's second and last year of Head Start was today -- a field trip to Como Zoo in St. Paul, Minnesota. I had only vaguely remembered there being rides there from a field trip while student teaching (I think), but there was a full-blown amusement park there ... in rides appropriate for pretty young kids. Because of Blake's size, he was able to ride on anything that didn't also require him to be of a certain age ... like the Bumper Cars which he was tall enough to ride, but couldn't drive because he isn't seven yet. He *was* able to ride the roller coaster, and afterward he wished that he hadn't ... poor kid! He admitted straight away that it was a little scary, but he was also very proud to tell people that he'd ridden on it, and all by himself at that!



Blake's FAVORITE ride by far, however, was the swings. You know what I'm talking about ... you probably loved this ride when you were a young kid, too. He must have ridden it 4-5 times! It's kind of funny to me because he initially said there was NO WAY he was going on it. I have no idea what made him change his mind.





I did convince him to go and look at the animals, but he did so grudgingly. He was quite happy to go back to the Midway when I suddenly realized we were supposed to have been at the main entrance 30 minutes earlier (the itinerary said to meet there at 11:00 ... I realized this as we were standing near the "Sparky Show" exhibit that was supposed to start at 11:30 and the crowds were massing for the show that is Tuesday-Saturday -- today being a Monday). We only made it back over to see the gorillas, completely missing the butterfly exhibit and several other things, I am sure.

Blake was terrified of the cougar exhibit. I think he was afraid they could "get him" though I explained that the netting over the top of the exhibit was there to prevent any such thing from happening. He was only willing to look at the Siberian Tiger because it was in an enclosure in which we viewed it from above. He had little interest in the giraffes though I think that was purely out of stubbornness, which he comes by completely honestly. It was the first exhibit we saw in the zoo ... after I'd basically dragged him away from the midway.



looking down from above ... good distance away ... gotta love that zoom!


by the swimming Sea Lions


one of the sea lions

I will come back and add a video or two as well! The pictures are taking a while to upload and Chase needs to get to bed.

Thanks for reading!

~Melinda