Milwaukee Trip, Part 3

My aunt took care of Charlie again on Wednesday. My uncle was also back from Chicago and he took the day off to spend with all of us. Since it was relatively mild for Milwaukee in November, we decided to take the kids to the zoo.

When I was little, we used to spend a lot of summers in Milwaukee with our family. I remember one of my favorite things to do there was go to the zoo. It's always weird going to a place you remember only from your childhood. Everything seems so different, so much smaller!

I was able to use our Knoxville Zoo Pass to get Carter, my dad, and me in for free (we did have to pay the $10!!! parking fee though). It was still a bit chilly so Carter got to wear his new winter coat for the first time. It's still pretty big on him so he looked a little like the kid in A Christmas Story that can't move because he's so bundled up!

My dad and Carter checking out the macaques on Monkey Island (this was one of the exhibits I remember from when I was a kid) ...


A mama and baby orangutan ...


Carter fell asleep after about 45 minutes. Charlie stayed up though the entire time.


Carter sleeping in front of the cool camels with 2 humps!


I was so sad for Carter that he slept through the big cats. They were all inside and the lions were pacing right in front of the glass window. They were really cool to see so close up!


The tiger had cubs in July. This is one of the babies in front of a really bad mural ...


The mama tiger ...


Carter and Charlie as giraffes ...


My dad and Carter in front of the elephants ...


Overall I think the kids liked the zoo. Carter always likes seeing animals.

We didn't do too much else that day. Carter did teach Charlie how to climb up the stairs though. I'm sure everyone is thrilled about that! After he figured it out, Charlie kept migrating towards the steps all day.

My dad with the boys ...


Jennifer and me with our kids (Jennifer is pregnant again and due in May!) ...


We left the next day to drive back to Knoxville. We didn't leave until almost 8:30 am in order to miss the morning traffic through Chicago. Carter did really well again on the drive. We got home around 8:30 pm (EST) so it took us around 11 hours to get back. Carter fell asleep around 6 pm so we skipped dinner while he slept the rest of the way into Knoxville.

Carter was so happy to see Brian when we got home. He yelled "dada" as soon as he saw Brian and couldn't wait to give Brian a hug.

My dad flew back to Wilmington the next morning and Carter and I got ready for our next long drive to Raleigh.