Firetrucks and zoo animals all in one day.

We went to the zoo today at South Bend. Nice little zoo, it is included in our zoo membership card - which is a bonus. Nice variety of animals, some different ones we don't get to see very often like a giant ant eater, peccarys (not sure how you pronounce that), bison, chinese alligators (they look very different) and diana monkeys.

And emus, kangaroos, black swans, wallabies and a kookaburra so we get a flash of australia for the kids! I asked madi where the black swans came from, which country, and she said "Australia", and the kangaroos, and she answered again "Australia". Then I asked where she came from and she says "consin" - which is 3 year old for Wisconsin. Because her name is Madison, and Madison is the capital of Wisconsin we have told her Wisconsin is her state, and she has taken it rather literally - too literally. I will have to work on re-establishing her Australianism.

Kids and I had a nice ride on the zoo train, which is one of the nicest ones we have seen on our travels. Wnet through a little covered bridge and we got a commentary about all the animals as we passed. It had toucans on the zoo map - but they are redoing a part of it, and they weren't on display. A little dissapointing, as madison said, "i havent ever seen a real toucan before". (she says that alot about dragons and dinosaurs too - she is especially on the lookout in forests for dragons - so if you know were some are please let me know).

On the way to the zoo we passed the South Bend Fire Station open day, so we turned around and went back to check it out. The kids watch Fireman Sam and the Mighty Machines DVD's about fire trucks so we thought they might enjoy it. It was really cool actually, at the back of the station

they had a hose the kids could use to "put out a fire" ... out kids circled it - a lot - but wouldnt have a go - it did make a big stream of water. The both enjoyed splashing in the puddles while watching other kids actually spray the hose.

There was a small fire truck the kids could climb on - that the firemen had made - a man could fit inside it and drove it around. It had really heavily tinted glass so the kids couldnt see that their was anybody inside it - so that was fun. To tell the truth, I looked around for somebody holding a remote control to start with too. We walked inside and all the kids got given a shiny (plastic) firemans hat and firemans badge with South Bend Junior Firefighter. So they proudly put their new hats on (the other 50 kids walking around were all wearing theirs so ... toddler peer pressure).

They got to climb around and over the real firetrucks displayed out the front. Then the best part was their was a big cuddly firepup character who was great with all the kids (you know a man dressed up as a spotty fire dog). Our kids kinda followed him all over, madi gave him a cuddle (she has been well trained at disneyland to cuddle characters - however I am not sure the firepup had undergone the same training), and denny hovered and waved from a few feet away. We must have hung around for 40 minutes. It was just really friendly and fun.

There is a great kids playground right next to the zoo, so we had to go there before heading back to the car. It is a really large one, with heaps to do. Madi especially likes the drums that are all around it - like tom tom drums she and denny run up and give them a good go - even before climbing and going on the slides. I am sitting in the carpark of Walmart on the way home now, Le has run in to get some milk and the kids are both exhausted and snoring in their carseats.


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