Potawatomi Zoo

We took the weekend to make a trip to the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend.  We planned to drive down the night before so that we could get to the zoo early and have plenty of time there before anyone got tired or hungry.  The kids had a great time in the pool, staying in the hotel, and eating the hotel breakfast.  Then they had to hang out in the hotel lobby for three hours while I got a flat tire fixed.

But other than that (and Debbie did a great job keeping them entertained), the day went well.  They had fun at the zoo and even more fun at the playground next door (all the way through the zoo: "Can we go to the playground now?").  Ethan's shoes got wet at the hotel, were removed to dry, and then were forgotten, so he had to run barefoot through the zoo and the playground, but he didn't seem to mind (we remembered to pick them up on the way home).

Travelogue, part IX

Abigail the monkey: most of these climbs were her own idea. She's very agile.

Travelogue, part VIII

One day we took a trip to an awesome play park: biggest one I've ever seen. It was built like a castle, with all sorts of things to climb.

The shaky bridge was popular.


Ethan was very unsure of it at first, and would only walk across holding my hand. But after a few trips back and forth, he was willing to try it all by himself.


There was a "well" made of stacked tires. Very challenging to climb up it, but Abigail made it, with only a little help from Dad.


I think this was her very first attempt at rope-climbing.


All summer she's been hesitant to go down slides by herself, even though she loved it last summer. Not today, though!

Fall colors on the way to the "new playground"

We went for a long walk this afternoon, checking out the fall colors.



Our destination: the playground at Mauck School (the "new playground" as Abigail calls it, because Bailey School is much closer and therefore we don't visit Mauck very often).


The first time we visited, she was scared to try this monkey ladder, but this time she went up it six or seven times.


Ethan slept through most of this playground trip, but he woke up towards the end.


The twisty slide! I don't recommend it for adults: too much static electricity on those plastic slides.