Our Trip to the Zoo

Yesterday, my mother, sister and I decided that we needed to take the kids to the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington.  My sister lives nearby and it is always nice to spend the day with her.  I thought I'd share my experience with you if you decide you would like to try it out sometime.

Before even entering the zoo, we were greeted by the splash park.  This posed a little problem for Little Bro because he wanted to immediately get wet and we did not bring our swimsuits.  I did not see anywhere that you had to pay, so I am assuming that it was FREE!  Next time, we will definitely remember that. 

Upon entering the Zoo, I was pleasantly surprised on the admission fee.  $5.00 for adults, and $3.50 for children 3 and up (and Senior Citizens...Mom!).  I compare this to the Peoria Zoo which costs $8.50 per adult and $4.75 for children.  So it was only $8.50 for myself and Big Bro, while Little Bro and Baby Sis were free.

The zoo itself had a lot of your traditional exhibits: bears, monkeys, and tigers.  There was also a petting zoo, but it for some reason was not open today.  However, it had a few unique exhibits.  For example, there was a walk-through Rainforest where the birds and animals could come in direct contact with you.  Little Bro LOVED this.   Here is a picture of him in the Rainforest.  See if you can notice the tiny blue and yellow birds in the picture that he chased off.  

 Meanwhile, Big Bro loved the reindeer and bug exhibits.

However, the highlight of our trip was riding the Carousel with Aunt Jill.  This was in addition to the admission cost.  It was $1.50 per child.

Overall, we enjoyed the zoo.  It was perfect for my boys, ages 4 & 2, but much older children may get bored.  It took us about two hours to visit all areas of the zoo.  It was not crowded, so the boys could walk freely.  There was a gift shop, but we avoided it!   It was a great day and we will definitely do it again soon!