Simon's idea of a fun hike

Simon was getting ready to head out to preschool when I told him after school we'd be going on a hike. He got all wide-eyed (if you know Simon, you know the look well).
Me: "we can look for butterflies and flowers"
Simon: "but I want to look for snakes and lions"

I of course will be taking my camera along. I'm hoping to not come home with pictures of snakes and lions.

Lions and Tigers and Bears.... OH MY!!

Yesterday we took a little Park Family Field trip to the Catoctin Zoo up in Thurmont, Maryland. We've driven by the zoo plenty of times on our way to visit friends in Pennsylvania, but have never stopped in. On Saturday afternoon, the Baker Family called to see if we'd like to tag along with them to the zoo. Without much thought (you know like what it would take to get 7 people out of the house for 7:30 am Mass, packing up a change of clothes for the kids and snacks for the car ride) we agreed. I've found these are the best kinds of outings and actually the most relaxing (yes that word can be used in the same sentence with "outing" & "5 kids").

The overall review on the zoo..... The Park's will be monkeying around at The Catoctin Zoo and Wildlife Preserve again! The kids were able to get far closer to the animals and see them much better than they ever could have at the Washington Zoo. No there are no pandas, but truly we've been to the Wash. Zoo before and never seen the panda's. Also no giraffe's or elephants. So what did they have? Monkey's galore, reptiles, lions, tigers, bears, wolves, fish, birds, jaguars, and the best part (according to the boys) were the 2 playgrounds situated throughout the grounds. We were there on the opening weekend, so there were actually a lot of animals that weren't back from their winter siesta's. It was still an awesome time. It was pricey and I think the next time we go we'll be purchasing a yearly pass. Yes, the kids had THAT much fun!