Baby’s First Zoo Visit

Today we went to the zoo for the first time with baby! And it only cost us $2 for entry! I randomly stumbled upon the promotion online last night at 3:45am when I couldn’t sleep. Meijer sponsored “Zoo Days” today and tomorrow at Potter Park Zoo. As long as you pick up a voucher at Meijer, you could get into the park for $1! And baby was free because he is under a year old. Talk about a cheap date!

So, we got up and started to pack half of our belongings for this little day trip. How could one little person potentially need so much stuff?! After packing his diaper bag, I threw together a couple of sack lunches for myself and my husband. Then, we were off!

Our selfie with the Rhino

Checking out Mr. Tortoise

We stopped at a Meijer in Lansing to grab a couple of vouchers, which ended up being a wasted 3 minute stop. The Zoo staff was kind enough to hand out vouchers to anyone that needed one in front of the admissions booth. Oh well, better to be safe than sorry, right?

Baby was initially cranky (hungry, hot, recently aroused from a car nap, etc.), but he came around once he chugged a bottle and started checking out the farm animals. One thing I loved about this Zoo was how close you were to the animals! [And the vast amount of shade throughout the park!] They had lots of spots where kids could pet or ride the animals. Our little guy was too little for most of that, but I think he genuinely enjoyed staring at some of the bigger creatures, like the tortoise and the donkey.

Honestly I was quite impressed with this little zoo. They had a lot of different species and the animals were pretty active for it being mid-day and 80 degrees outside.  I realize the animal liveliness, if you will, is out of the zoo’s control, but it was still neat to see the tiger splashing in the river, mongoose (geese?) actively cuddling on a log, monkeys swinging, and lions moving around on their large rock structures.  Maybe that is a compliment to their enclosures? Either way, we had a lot of fun and baby was really well behaved. He seemed to have enjoyed himself.