Zoo TV

Our little family is heading out to one of the local zoos later this week. Despite the fact we live in a large metropolitan area with two great zoos, the children of casa de phillips have never visited one in their short little lifetimes..

Before you call in CPS over the fact we have been depriving the children of a fun animal experience up to this point, allow me to explain.

Getting to either zoo is a feat, one that requires plotting rush hour traffic and adjusting nap times. The children are just both now at an age where changing a nap schedule for one day is not a huge deal. Also, we have to plan around the nine months of the year our little area tends to experience summer. I *heart* me some giraffes and elephants...but not when it is 102 degrees in the shade and I am pushing a double jogging stroller. We also have waited until Tobe can come with us, making this a fun family outing for the four of us to share together.

Then there is my whole uneasiness about the captivity of animals and caging them for public viewing, but that likely is due to a disturbing documentary I once watched about how animals were acquired for American zoos in the 1950's and should be shared in another post on another day...

So...we are going to the zoo! The children are excited about our upcoming adventure. In preparation, we have been discussing aspects of the zoo, speculating what types of animals we will find there, and expanding on our knowledge of animals and their habitats.

Isaac taught us all a lesson last night over supper when he informed the table, "You spell zoo 'Z.O.O." Tobe and I learned another random word Isaac can read and spell and Evelyn has been chanting, "Zoo..Z.O.O.!" since then.

This morning we did a zoo craft in preparation for our trip.

I unrolled a large portion of packing paper (the type used to wrap packages to be mailed) and taped it to the kitchen floor. I then drew a lovely little path on the paper and set out the crayons, markers, and glue. The children had a blast drawing in animals in our phillips family zoo and placing them along the path. I found a random coloring book of ours and searched the pages for potential zoo animal pictures. Those were cut out and pasted along the path as well. After all the coloring and gluing were complete, we hauled out the matchbox cars and drove them along our little zoo path.

My original plan was to do this craft outdoors by hanging the paper on our fence and allowing the children to paint a zoo scene. 40+ mile per hour winds today prohibited such outdoor crafting so we opted for the kitchen floor instead.

***

I had to include a few shots of E.'s haircut because it warms my heart so. Her little bob is looking quite nice after the trip to the kiddie salon last week.

___

Although I haven't blogged specifically about my grocery shopping experiences since completing my four week series, I am still sticking to my $100/week budget. This past Saturday was a shopping day for me and I saved $82.26 using coupons and store sales. Whoo Hoo!

This savings was hard won due to the fact that I had to put up a bit of a fight at our local Kroger's over a discrepancy in their store ad prices and the price that came up at the register. In the end, I won and was able to gracefully handle the situation without screaming at the poor 21 year old store manager that I was not leaving until I was given the right price on my paper plates. There was a $13 difference, so the matter was quite deserving of my attention.

___

As I type this post, my oldest child has set the Time Timer on my dresser (we have had a little girl in Time Out some this morning) and informed me of how much computer time I have remaining until it is his turn to play some computer games. After a discussion of "Only Mommies and Daddies Make Rules" I have agreed to relinquish the computer to my three year old who took a very, very short nap this afternoon.

See You Later, Alligator...