Granby Zoo

For Gavin's third birthday, we told him he could either have a friend party or a family adventure. Gavin went with the adventure option, and decided he wanted us to go to a zoo. The timing worked out well -- with everything that has been going on lately, the kids (and their parents!) needed a day of kid-centered fun. So we took the kids to the Granby Zoo in Quebec on Saturday, and it was fantastic. It's a little weird to have to cross an international border and even weirder to have everything in French, but it's only two hours away, and they accept American zoo passes, so we can go as often as we'd like.

They had all our favorite big animals -- Elephants, Giraffes, Tigers, Hippos, Gorillas -- in these really wonderful outdoor settings, usually with several types of animals mixed in together.


My favorite were the nuzzling Rhinos. It's kind of hard to snuggle when you have two big horns sticking out of your nose, but these Rhinos were doing their best!


Lucy went on a camel ride. She said it was really bumpy.


The animals were so fun. They even had sharks, and they would let you pet them if you were brave enough (we weren't -- though we were impressed with the guy standing in the shark pool in his hip waders. Too bad we couldn't understand what he was saying in French. Maybe, "help me get out of here!"?)

When we'd had our fill of animals, we went to the amusement park that is part of the zoo. Almost all the rides are free. The kids went on the motorbikes, bumper cars, and ferris wheel, then Lucy decided she needed to take me on the scary rollercoaster. Naturally, she chose the very front seat, and begged me to take her again when it was over! All zoos should have fun rides. And a waterpark -- closed for the season, but we will definitely be back next summer!