Life's a Zoo!

     For the second week in a row plans got delayed. So we're still waiting to do what we picked out of the bowl after our day in Holland. We'll get to that next week. But for this week, we needed to come up with an alternative plan that was one of our places to go as we're running out of Wednesdays. It was decided we'd stick close to home.
     This week's #wackywednesdaywanderings had a special twist...we added Clara to our day. For those of you who don't know, Clara is our 22-month-old granddaughter. Our plan for the day was a perfect fit for this little girl. She spent the night with us Tuesday so we could start our day together on Wednesday right from the beginning.
     We started out with a stop at our favorite local restaurant for breakfast. Bravo Cafe serves delicious food no matter what meal you're looking for. If you leave there hungry, it's your own fault as they give big plates of food for very reasonable prices. After having our eggs, hash browns and toast we headed west for the first part of our adventure.
     Last summer, we took 10-month-old Clara to the zoo. She sat in her stroller staring straight ahead. She didn't understand what we were doing or pay any attention to the animals we tried pointing out to her. We decided this summer we should try the zoo again. She's much more observant and loves to explore and learn new things. So this was the perfect time.
     We arrived at Potawatomi Zoo and made our way to the front gate. There is construction going on in several places at the zoo, but it really doesn't deter from your visit, with the exception of some animals not being available. Most of the animals we saw were very active! In fact, the lions roared for the first time I remember hearing and we got to heard the flamingos "chirp" which was pretty cool. Clara loved looking at the animals and wasn't afraid of any of them, although she didn't want to try feeding any of them. She loved looking at the tigers and got a big laugh when we looked at the "big cows" (the bison)! When the alpacas walked away from her, she said, "Come here, baby!"  She and Drew both walked the entire zoo! That's a huge deal because, last year when we went to the zoo, Drew had to stop halfway through and wait for the rest of us to finish. Clara and I rode the zoo train, which only costs $2.00 for anyone over three. It's not a very long ride and you don't really see many animals, which was disappointing. But she enjoyed it. All in all, it was a fun trip to the zoo.
     Being so close to home, it's not always easy to find someplace new to eat. Besides, with our pint-sized companion, we felt it best to go someplace we know she likes. We settled on Chick-fil-A which is always a hit with Clara. We love going there because the staff is always so friendly and goes above the call of duty to make our time there fun. We're sad that they're closed for about 8 weeks now, so we were happy we had a chance to go in and say good-bye to people who have become our friends. We'll anxiously await their grand re-opening this fall.
     We planned to go to Bremen for the farmer's market but it was too early. So we headed over to University Park Mall so Clara could play in the little play area. In the corridor outside Barnes and Noble is a nice little area with benches for adults to relax while their little ones play. Clara spent some time climbing and running around that little area. While we were there, we got a text that Clara needed to go back home so she could do something with her parents. So, we sadly drove her to where we needed to and our time with her came to an end. At that point, we decided to just go home.
     After being at home for awhile, we decided to make the drive to Bremen to check out the farmer's market and see what things they had this time around. We were impressed with their small, but fun market our first week of the summer. Sadly, due to the holiday week, many of the vendors didn't attend the market this week so we only spent a few minutes there. We wanted to find something to eat but nothing in Bremen was open at that point. We drove across US 6 to Nappanee and didn't find anything there to eat. We even checked out Wakarusa on our way back home and still found nothing. We drove home and decided to order something online and have it delivered. We placed an order from Beef 'O' Brady's and let DineIn do the driving. In about an hour, we had a delicious dinner delivered right to our door while we watched a movie. We had never eaten at Beef 'O' Brady's before so that was nice. As a side note: the new Baywatch with Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron is a good movie!
     So, as you see, this week wasn't our "normal" #wackywednesdaywandering. It didn't go exactly as planned but it worked out fine, even though it didn't always feel like it was fine. Stay tuned next week to see what fun we've been waiting for.