2385 miles later

Well, I still can't figure out how to get the pictures in the order I want them - so this might be a little hard to follow! We took our family vacation last week and had a blast! It was basically two different vacations - one with Grandma and Grandpa Maas in Minnesota and one in the car. By the way, let me just mention now how much I LOVE my van! Andy and I were both climbing throughout it and thrive on all the SPACE!!! It was so perfect! So, on the way up we traveled in two days and stopped midway at the Topeka, Kansas zoo. It was great! We saw a baby orangutang (sp?) that stole my heart! (At each zoo there was one - or two - animals that we had to watch for at least 30 minutes. I think Andy was going crazy with the kids and my facination. At one point he told me that I had fostered this love for...animals, so I had to be the one to pry them away so we could go. hehehe).

We arrived at Detroit Lakes, MN Sunday in time for dinner and played and played for 3 days - mainly outside because it wasn't HOT! Between this trip and our August visit last year to Colorado, we're thinking Texas might not be the greatest for outdoor activites during the summer! We did the paddle boat, went fishing off the dock, took pontoon rides, played baseball, went on walks, visited the 'beach,' played baseball, jumped in the lake (minus mom), reading, and played baseball. We couldn't get enough of the incredible weather! Grandma and Grandpa Maas enjoyed watching all the crazy Ben/Annie antics that my life revolves around. The best part was - no bugs! We used our OFF one time when Andy and I went on the paddle boat after the kids were in bed (Thank you for all of the Emily-watching!), and I don't think we even needed it. However, I was lulled into a safe sense because as soon as we got home and started taking our walks again, we all got eaten alive... Alas, we had a great time.

We planned 3 days to get home (which was a GREAT move), so we didn't have more than 7 hours in the car. We left Wednesday afternoon and drove 6 hours. Thursday morning we drove another 90 minutes to the Omaho Zoo. After a train ride and an AMAZING gorilla exhibit, I didn't want to leave! The zoo was HUGE with all types of bears you can imagine. Andy's favorite part was a $33 million dome that housed the Africa portion of the zoo. After the zoo we had a pretty miserable 5 hours to Witchita where we slept in another lovely Marriott hotel (love those points!!!). We drove a whopping 17 minutes to the Witchita Zoo for another fun and exhausting morning. We went first to the Giraffe feeding and found a 1 week old giraffe! Her older brother is the one who typically likes to be fed, but this was his little sister's first time on exhibit and he was very protective. We also saw a two week old rhino, and a baby camel! Ben loved seeing the longhorn there. We drove home and got in about 10:30 Friday night (after stopping for dinner at Rudy's in Denton) just in time to get our regular 6 hours of sleep before real life started again. Saturday started with a bang with produce early in the morning, a birthday party, grocery shopping and a leaky washing machine!
Andy pushing kids up STEEEEP hill!
Outside the gorilla exhibit where we saw three generation of gorillas in the same exhibit - Omaha.
Our sweet baby giraffe! She was about 6 feet tall and we learned that she will grow about an inch a day!

Getting ready for our first pontoon ride!!! The kids were sooo excited!
" Sitting on the dock of the bay - watching the clouds drift away..."
Emily enjoyed the pontoon ride on Grandma Maas's lap.

Keeping the kids busy in the car. We did several different seat rotations to keep life from getting boring - this was NOT our favorite!
Emily had plenty to keep her attention. We finally put her in the back with Ben on our last day and that was our FAVORITE seat assignments.
At the Topeka Zoo - pulled most of the kids in the wagon...

So after visiting so many other zoos, I've realized how horrible the Dallas Zoo really is. However, all the other zoos have lots of LAND - which is very important to the quality of life for the animals. You can only do so much without space.

How did Andy an I keep ourselves busy in the car? Well, I read most of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince to him - finishing the night after we got home so I could begin book 7 on Sunday. Harry is now over for me - although Andy still neeeds to read/listen to book 7. It was a great trip!!!