Monday, May 07, 2007

Zoo safari week

We've had a grinding week with my husband out-of-town for the last four days. (Jordana can tell you, I was even too tired to go to the grocery before our playdate--thank goodness for peanut butter!)

In need of a little celebration, I declared the week an official ZOO SAFARI. We broke one mega-trip down into five intensive, short visits. We live nearby and have a membership. Each day's visit is supplemented by library books.

Each day the Sparrow Post has a new surprise waiting for our safari:
Day 1: Fresh bottle of sunscreen and two new yardsale "safari sun hats"
Day 2: Thrifted zoo t-shirt and yard-sale binoculars from Grandma
Day 3: Bag of color pencils and a reused mini-sketchpad "field journal"
Day 4: Guide to Amphibia and Reptiles and a pack of gummy crocodiles
Day 5: A token for the carousel and a tiki-shaped drink bottle

Do you have a membership card that's been languishing in your wallet? I hope this impromptu safari keeps our zoo membership fresh all summer!

7 comments:

marycelery said...

Meredith

My membership cards are usually worn out at the end of the year! I try to buy memberships with an eye toward the "reciprocal" agreements.

For example, we have a membership for an art museum in a town 100 miles away. For that family membership, we got free tickets to a big touring show at no extra cost. We also get into the local art museum AND the museums in San Francisco we will see during our summer vacation. It will also get us into the Houston museums we will see during the fall. All of this for one family membership - it pays to look at the reciprocal agreements in your membership package.

We will purchase a science museum membership before our big San Francisco trip. They also have great reciprocal agreements and we will get to go to the Exploratorium multiple times - something that would normally be cost prohibitive.

Zoo memberships might work the same way. I don't know. But ours is quite a frugal investment.

Anonymous said...

What a fun idea! We live in Chicago, where the ALWAYS FREE Lincoln Park Zoo is just a bus ride away, so this would be a fun one to try with my munchkin.

LPZ offers memberships, but when it's already free, the main benefit would be the free admission to reciprocal zoos (of which there are many). We've sort of considered a membership at Brookfield (the other Chicago-area zoo), but strangely, they don't have a reciprocal program. The membership would pretty much pay for itself in a couple visits, so it might be worth it anyway.

Enjoy your week at the zoo!

Hyperactive Lu said...

I wish we lived closer. Our zoo is about a hour drive. I'm sure once I stay home, we will be able to use the zoo more!

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! I'm looking for things to do w/ my boys when school's out for the summer. I wish we lived closer to a zoo. I may have to scout out some local things and do something similar.

3boysmama said...

What a great idea since you live close with a membership!

Anonymous said...

Looks like fun! Sacramento is a great town for museums and places to take kids and we have been lucky enough to receive some memberships as a gift. For anyone reading in our area I recommend the Train Museum for the winter rain, Fairy Tale Town for the summer heat (skip the fairy tale vignettes and head for the shaded playground in the very back), and Folsom Zoo for letting your toddler/preschooler zoom ahead under his or her own steam, as it's quite small and pretty much impossible to get lost in.

Someone Beautiful said...

Oh I love this! A friend was just telling me she wanted to do a scavenger hunt but didn't know how. Since I've done them, I offered to give her ideas that would work for the toddlers and preschoolers, and yours is perfect timing! :) Thank you.