This summer I participated in my very first Zoo Camp! I have been looking forward to this for a couple of years now. Aunt Debbie has been taking Maria and Sarah since they were my age, so the last couple of summers I spent with Aunt Debbie I helped her take the girls, Alex, Gabe, and their friends to camp. It was a very exciting week! Not only did I go to Zoo camp every afternoon for a week, I also spent nights ar Aunt Debbie's and Uncle Bob's for the whole week! I wasn't alone though, Gabe and Megan spent the week too.
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Our stay at the Portman's started out with a visit to Graeters's Ice Cream.
We were really excited to enjoy our sweet treat in baseball helmets,
especially since we just went to the Reds game. Aunt Debbie later
decided ice cream wasn't the best idea when we refused to go to bed! |
Zoo Camp this year was in the afternoon. So that meant we had time in the mornings for things like visiting the park and Panera.
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| I am being brave climbing the rope ladder! |
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| Lemonade and chocolate chip bagels! |
Our afternoons at Zoo camp were filled with a lot of excitement! Everyday we went go on a Zoo hike to visit an animal. We visited the giraffes and fed them giraffe crackers, watched the elephants have a bath, visited the new Night Hunters exhibit and much, much more. Back in our classrooms we had activities and crafts and usually got a visit from another animal. My favorite animal visit was the armadillo! He was very funny, he kept knocking his head on the the little cage.
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| One day Aunt Debbie brought home a couple of hedgehogs! |
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| And a turtle! |
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We enjoyed Zoo camp so much that in the evenings we
would "drive" ourselves to Zoo camp! |
One day during Zoo Camp Mommy took the day off from work to go to the zoo with us. She learned our routine for the trip. After our morning of fun at the park or playing outside Aunt Debbie packed our lunches and we ate them in the car on the way to camp. Gabe was very helpful, he helped open our chips or waters, collect trash and throw it away when we finished. We were in good hands with Gabe helping Aunt Debbie.
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| Gabe and me eating our lunches! |
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Every day Gabe held our hands and
walked us to our classroom. Sometimes Megan and I
took Gabe to his class first. |
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Here are Megan and I sitting on our carpet squares
before camp starts for the day. When we went
on our zoo hikes we were each other's buddy! |
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| By Friday morning I was pretty TIRED! |
No visit to Aunt Debbie's is complete without a trip to the Sprinkle Park. It was a busy week so we decided on Friday night to have a picnic at the park and run through the Sprinkle Park.
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| Gabe and me feeling good and hungry! |
I was a little nervous my first day of Zoo Camp, but in the end it was a great time and I can't wait to go back next year! Thank you very much to the Portmans for letting me stay at their house for the week. And a great big THANK YOU to Aunt Debbie for driving us all down to the zoo, packing our lunches, and taking such good care of us. I am looking forward to 10 more years of Zoo Camp!
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| All the happy zoo campers! |
