Potter Park Zoo

We met up with the grandparents to head down to one of their favorite zoos, that they found a couple years ago while visiting Lansing for one of my niece's cheer-leading competitions. Things got off to a bumpy start, and had me questioning if we had chosen the wrong day for the zoo. We had been out later than normal due to visiting our villages firework display the night before so having them wake up early wasn't an easy task.  I had let the boys know that it was going to take about an hour and a half to drive to and from the zoo and to bring something to occupy their time. All 3 forgot to grab an activity! While trapped in the car for the long drive, I was having a difficult time seeing my boys as the blessings they are. This was the night Jordan had stayed up majority of the night to play the banned computer game so he was a big pile of attitude and crabbiness. Joey was, Joey. To occupy himself he invented many ways and noises to pester his brothers the whole ride there. Jacob who loves his sleep, was giddy from the lack of rest. Pairing that with he was sitting next to Papa lead to a lot of noise and goofiness from backseats. I was tired from only getting about 3-4 hours of sleep. It just was not a good combinations of personalities. Thankfully Papa and Grandma from their years of experience (not from me, of course *wink, wink*) kept moving forward and put smiles on and hoped for the best. Once we reach the Potter Park Zoo and the boys were no long "trapped" in the car with each other, slowly we could all be seen as the blessing we are. We had a lovely time at the zoo and saw some animals we don't see at the Detroit Zoo. It was wonderful that you were so close to each of the animals and could really get a good look at them. The aviary was a favorite of ours! You can purchase a small amount of food and feed the birds. There was also a petting farm where instead of feeding the goats, you could use one of the brushes provided and brush them. We also rode on camels, Papa and Grandma had offered to just watch. I was very impressed with Jacob who has a fear of height and is extremely cautious about trying new things, he climbed up on that camel with the same excitement his brothers had.

Normally a day at the zoo is more than enough to wear us out. However we were so close to our State Capital building that it seemed silly not to stop by. We were all over our earlier moods and were in good spirits. As it was Sunday, we couldn't actually go inside but the boys enjoyed walking around and reading and looking at the  statues. Jacob was fascinated that we were at a "really important place" where decisions for our whole state were made.