New side to the Zoo!

Today Zach did not have school.  I love no-school days for Zach, or when he decides he'd like to stay home from school!  I feel I get so little time with him when his entire morning is at preschool and his afternoon is lunch then nap.  With today's day-off treat, we decided to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo.  We've been there tons of times, but never over to the Farm section.  Today was Farm day for us!  It's a pretty small area, which was perfect for a short outing.

When we got there, we saw that the cows would get milked at 10:30, so with 30 minutes to kill, we went to see the pigs, and miniature ponies.  We got to see the baby pig, but no idea where the mother was.  The pig gets milk still, but not from a bottle.  We had a snack by the ponies, and enjoyed watching them eat their snacks too.  By then it was time to watch the cows.  The farm had 3 cows that needed milking.  They get milked 3x per day, giving about 5 gallons each.  One gallon gets set aside for the baby pig, and the rest go off for pasteurizing.  One cow had an infection and was on antibiotics, so her milk just got trashed.  The boys enjoyed the milking, but soon became more intrigued by a llama  that was in the same room.  It started pooping, and the little pellets went EVERYWHERE, including out of the pen onto the floor.  This was huge news for our boys!

After the cows, we checked out the ginormous rabbit, the organic garden, and a pen of chickens before heading into the barn for the interactive exhibits.

Baby chicks

Wyatt & Zach playing seed sorting game

ZW playing an animal sounds game & playing in eggs

Digging in tire garden for veggies

We had to wait in line for about 10 minutes for the boys to have a chance to get on the tractor.

ZW inside tractor

pretty big tractor!

Zachary & Wyatt not happy w/ posing by the large tire

One more quick look at the chickens and the overlarge rabbit and it was time to go home.  They boys were also intrigued by an outrigger canoe outside a history museum on our way back to the car.

Fun outing!  When asked by DaU later what the best parts were they both said "Llama poop!", then "cows milking".  Zach remembered watching Kate (Jess U's niece) help milk cows on her family's farm.