AN AFTERNOON AT THE POPCORN PARK ZOO.

One of the things that's a must on our to do list of summer activities is venturing out to the zoo. Any zoo. The kids love animals, and yesterday the weather was too perfect to stay inside, and so we headed to the outskirts of Jersey, and ended up at the Popcorn Park zoo. 

We've been to this zoo many times, and it never gets old. A year goes by so fast, and when we come it seems like we were just here yesterday. I remember the first time we took Noah, and all he would do was point, say "awww" and make facial expressions of happiness. Now that he's five, he will want to run to see every animal, ask questions as to what they eat, sleep, how they live, who owns them, and even asked if we can take some home. 

He's somewhat familiar with this particular zoo, and when I explained to him what kind of zoo it was, and how these animals are rescued from various parts of the world due to negligence, and cruelty Noah wants to make sure they're safe. Otherwise he said, "I'll take them home if they get hurt more." 

Unfortunately Lexie stayed home accomplishing more of her summer homework so she didn't get to come with us, and her sibs were sad. She said the quicker she finishes her homework, the more time she'll have this summer to go out with us. She came with us last year, and enjoyed it. So hopefully she'll be able to come with us to the next zoo we visit!

We love coming here, and seeing Noah and Chelsea walking and talking together feeding the animals with one box of popcorn made me so happy. These two may have many disagreeable moments, but at the end of the day knowing that they got along tells me that I'm doing my best as a mother to have them love each other unconditionally, and that I'm doing something right in raising them! 

 ^^^ They fed all sorts of animals together. Noah's favorite animals to feed were the horse, and sheep. My girls love horses, and have done a bit of horseback riding in the past, and would love to own one! So would I! ^^^

 If you have a snapchat, and look at my snaps (r_jorgensen) there is a few of them feeding the sheep. Noah had so much fun, and was gentle. He was scared at first to pet the lamb, but after a while warmed up to it. Then he started to laugh when Chelsea was feeding him from her hand. Noah kept asking her if it tickled. 

^^^ Noah and Chelsea love birds. I swear these kids would want to own every animal if we had a farm. We saw them as we were walking out. I'm not a bird aficionado so I have no idea what kind of birds these are, but aren't they sweet! ^^^

We continued to walk around, and saw more animals. There was a lion, and a tiger but they were sleeping the whole time. I didn't feel like taking their picture. Kind of made me sad because they weren't roaring, or very mobile. Tells me that they were seriously traumatized by some sort of abuse or neglect. Makes me wonder if they were in a circus! Who knows!

Same with the bears, and Noah thinks they are so adorable! 

He stopped, and asked if I can take a picture of him with the bear in the background, and even though the fence is an eyesore I couldn't help but to post this. Behind this photo I see that Noah is content, and happy to be surrounded by animals. The fact that this zoo is in the outskirts of Jersey makes it more peaceful, and not very loud! We just love this quaint little zoo! 

^^^ If you look closely there is a sweet little monkey on the top right hand corner. I lifted Noah as much as I could so he can get a closer look. We've been watching the "Night of the Museum" a lot lately, and this monkey reminded him of Dexter. So cute! ^^^

 It's very impressive how they have these animals set up, and there aren't very many. They pretty much have one of each. We only saw one cow, one lion, and they had about two ostriches. Not pictured are does, tigers, chicken coops, turtles, geese, and ponies. They have quite a variety, but because it's a small zoo they keep it to a minimum.

 We sure do love coming here. It truly is a cure for stress, or in my kids case "boredom." I love that this zoo has a purpose behind it, and that there are people out there who care so much to keep this zoo open. One lady even asked me if this zoo had amputated or deformed animals because if it did she didn't want to see that. My answer to that is "no." They all have their limbs, and are so sweet, and relaxing to see. (we seriously need to invest in a selfie stick, because look at Noah. His head of hair is not fully in the photo.)

It's definitely worth the five bucks, and time to check this place out to see the animals. My kids love it here! Especially in the summer time!