Last time we visited we asked our family if they wanted to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo that Sunday. They seemed happy to be asked, and the children seemed excited. We weren’t quite sure if they understood what we meant. The next time we went to visit though, they had many many questions about the zoo. I was happy that they had been able to formulate their questions and write them down.
The day of the zoo trip we went to their home, they were not ready yet, and started putting on their winter coats. We told them to put on lighter coats because it was nice out. We didn’t realize that they didn’t have lighter coats that fit them. They tried digging lighter coats out of this box of winter clothes, some fit, some didn’t. We were happy that in the end they all had both a lighter jacket and a winter jacket.
We were not sure if this was the first time going on the CTA, but the children seemed to enjoy it (except for the baby, she was too sleepy to enjoy the ride). The first thing we saw at the zoo was the seals, the family seemed thrilled to see him swimming and coming up for air. With every exhibit they would come up to Liz and I and ask about the animals. The children seemed to really love the snakes, crocodiles, seal, and monkeys especially. They loved the monkey house and gorilla house! It was great seeing them laughing and the children running around. The children loosened up with Liz and I a lot during this visit. The two boys would grab our hands and led us around the zoo, sometimes pulling us along. When we got to the goat petting zoo area, the older boy refused to go in to pet the goats. We had to persuade him to go, and Liz had to go in with the boys. Once they got in, they seemed to enjoy it!
Liz’s mom and dad came with us to the zoo and packed us all a lunch. The family seemed a little wary of the food, but things like fruit and chips they enjoyed! The children tried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, the baby girl seemed to enjoy it, but not the elder two boys. The father seemed a little aloof during the zoo trip and lunch. He hang back behind a lot, and didn’t seem to enjoy the food much, but he was very willing to learn about the animals and he loved watching the gorillas.
All in all, this trip was a great learning experience, and the family seemed to love it! We also got many great photos of the family and plan to print them for them and frame them.
On a negative side note, Liz and I were waiting to get into the families apartment building (we had to sneak in when someone opened the door), with an immigrant woman from Africa and her child, two white men opened the door and left the building. The little girl sneaked in between the two men. One of the men flipped out saying “that these ******* foreigners are lucky we open the door for them! They don’t deserve this…etc.” This upset Liz and I to no end, and we hope the immigrants that entered the building in with us does not face this often.