Then One Foggy Winter Day

Since it was 40-some degrees out today (and the Packers weren't playing), we decided to load the kids up for a trip to the zoo.

It was fun to be there on an off-season day. Some of the animals were out in the weather -- elephants, zebras, camels, and, not surprisingly, the polar bear -- while the rest we had to go indoors to see. And, on a side note, I gotta tell ya, I KNOW those lions and cheetahs can't get out, but when they're pacing on the other side of a 1-inch piece of glass from where your son has his face pressed, I still get a little nervous and just want to pack up and get out of there. I guess that's one more thing to add to my list of irrational fears, right next to getting trapped in a vehicle underwater.

Anyway, part of the reason we went, other than a little cabin fever, was to have something interesting to write about for Owen's class book. You see, this was his weekend with Fuzzy Bear, a black, stuffed bear that each child in his class takes home for a few days and then writes and shows pictures of what they did in the scrapbook that travels with the bear. Since I dreaded documenting our typical weekend activities -- you know, trips to the grocery store, watching SpongeBob, eating lunch, not that thrilling -- I thought a zoo trip would be fun. And hey, you don't waste a foggy January day in Wisconsin by spending it entirely indoors.

One of the highlights of our zoo trips usually is a train ride, but since the train doesn't run in the winter, Owen discovered a suitable alternative -- playing on the train tracks. He does love his "cross-its." Nora, on the other hand, amassed a handful of wet leaves.

Then we came home and commenced with the boring stuff.