Autumn at MN Zoo

No glorious fall color pics here, I'm afraid...just goats.

Oh yeah, and one cute boy posing nicely (!!) atop this sculpture of a dog/wolf-like animal that we passed by on the way back from the goats.

On these beautiful early fall days, we've hit the MN Zoo several times in the mid- to late afternoon, heading straight down there after Bjorn and I pick up Leif from preschool. Leif continues to be pretty disinterested in most of the animals at the zoo, but he does think buying the little pellets from the goat food dispensers and having the animals lap up the pellets from his open palm is lots of fun. Since the "farm" area where the goats are located is at the very far end of the zoo, I get a good workout by pushing both kids in the double stroller all the way there. Leif then happily walks on the way back and is motivated to keep moving by the promise of a stop at the playground once we make it back to the central plaza near the main building. I hope we can continue this pleasant outdoor autumn routine for at least another few zoo visits before we need to switch over to our indoor winter routine of sprinting around the Tropics Trail, pausing only to check out the various caves and tunnels along the route.

We *suspect* that Bjorn may actually have an interest in looking at the animals, although we have not been able to fully test this theory yet since there is always a pressing need to catch up to his older brother who is speeding on ahead. If we make it to the zoo as a family one of these months and can divide the kiddos (one child per parent), maybe Bjorn will finally get his chance to check out that cool looking pond full of ducks and flamingos for longer than 30 seconds!