Our August Zoo Trip!

August 31st, 2006.
The last week before school started, we took a van load to the Milwaukee Zoo. My nephew, Derek, my nieces, Megan, Lydia, and Melyssa, and my mom went along. We had a great time despite the stormy weather and getting rained on. But honestly, that just added to the trip. The big highlight, at least for my boys, was going through the Dinosaur Exhibit. There were life-sized robotronic dinos along the path, complete with sound effects. Kieran was pretty freaked out by the end of the hike. Another cool exhibit was the reptile/fish house. They had catfish bigger than the kids. I can't imagine swimming in a river and having something that big brush by me. I get the heeby-geebies just thinking about it.
One neat thing that the girls and I noticed was how many of the small reptiles and mammals natural homes are found in Panama. I have a feeling that the Genschaws will have all sorts of awesome stories of looking out their windows and seeing animals we only get to see in zoos.
They are leaving a week from tomorrow. I'm hoping to get to see them off from the airport. Having them a half a world away is really going to be hard. Those kids are like my own. My boys adore them, and I know it is going to be difficult to explain just how far "Panama" is from Dodgeville, when the concept of a 2 hour car ride is beyond comprehension for them at this age.
I am really hoping that they will have access to email since that will be the only way to keep in touch. This blog will also help them to keep up with stuff going on up here in the frigid north, too.
Well, today (Sept 27, 2006) is Wacky Wednesday-school gets out at 2pm and Cayden gets to be the classroom helper today. Boy was he stoked about that! Jerod got into it as well and went to Kwik Trip before he left for work and bought him 2 glazers donuts to eat on his special day. Not to be left out, Kieran scored a huge M&M cookie from Daddy. That was so sweet for him to do. Even though he can't be here in the morning, he knew how excited Cayden was gong to be today. I love this man no matter what, but every so often he does something to pleasantly surprise me.