SUMMER AT THE ZOO & SPLASH PARK!

If it wasn't for splash pads/parks, my neighbors pool, and zoos in the summertime with two active kids I seriously don't know what i would do with myself. I mean I know I could get my younger kids more engaged in doing crafts at home, take them to the playground every day, and although they love tennis I don't want them to feel the need to practice every single day for hours to be the next Agassi, or Venus Williams but to have a love for the sport without any obligation, but when it's like 90 degrees driving in a car without air condition while running errands all over south jersey knowing that you're on your way to a place where they have both a zoo, and a splash park really puts a huge smile on their faces, and it is 100 percent refreshing! 

Upon leaving for girls camp we decided to once again travel the short distance of not even 25 minutes to the Cohanzick zoo, and mini splash park. I figured this would be the last fun thing to do with them before i left them for four days! This was our second time coming here, and the second year the splash park has been opened. I'm surprised not too many people know about it so it's kind of nice for it to not be so crowded, because it is small.  It's only two bucks per kid, and for two hours they are splashing away getting automatic buckets of water poured over them. It's nice to walk around the zoo on a nice summer day taking in the sounds of the animals, and watching your kids enjoying the simplicity of a small zoo, and then walking across the street to the mini splash park to get wet. They love coming here, and it's so much fun. 

Here are a few photos from that day...

^^^ i didn't take too many photos of any real animals as most of them were dormant, plus I was having a nice time walking around the zoo for once without my iPhone in hand! ^^^

 ^^^ not real (thank goodness) but they love posing with these statues of the gorilla, and bear. ^^^

^^^ I love this lion water fountain. Every time I see one at a zoo it totally reminds me of the lion I grew up with at home! Don't drink the water though, it's gross. ^^^

^^^ all the jumps this girl did while we were here indicates that she is indeed having a blast! ^^^

Each day I count my blessings for living in an area where there are a variety of simple things to do that keep our kids happy. We need not spend a lot of money to keep our kids entertained. Just walking around the zoo was relaxing and fun . And like i said before, it's the simplest things that keep our children happy, and bring joy to their young life. 

Cohanzick Zoo & Splash Park.

When my insomnia kicks in, or the fact that I had too much caffeine I find myself on pinterest pinning the most interesting things, and I happened to stumble upon this pin where it tells you places to go in New Jersey where admission is free! Of course I clicked on the link anxiously awaiting to read what could possible be free in New Jersey. So I scrolled down, and of course I see that the Cape May Zoo is listed on there (been there done that a ton of times) however, there were quite a few other interesting places that I'd never heard of that were on the list that caught my attention.  

Since my kids are a lover of animals (who isn't) we decided to check out the Cohanzick Zoo in Bridgeton which is less than an hour drive. It wasn't a big zoo...at all, but when you have little kids they don't care and even if they see one live animal their day has been made. 

In this case we saw quite a few...

^^^ this little creature had a stiletto looking fast-darting tounge! ^^^

Including a huge, fake gorilla.

and a lion water fountain that reminded me of a lion slide I used to play on back where I grew up. 

There was also a splash park located just across the parking lot from the zoo. We were a little bummed that the kids didn't have their swimsuits that day. Had I known about the splash park I would have brought them. So the other day we made an effort to go to the zoo again, and this time we remembered to bring their swimsuits. These kids had so much fun going through the water fountains, and having buckets of water splashing all over them. The splash park is not free, and is only 2 dollars per person, and since it runs in two hour increments we made dang sure that we came on the hour it started again so that we could get our whole two bucks worth for a whole two hours of fun! 

And this is how much fun they had! 

^^^ trying to make the water sounds different by stepping on the holes from where the water comes out.^^^

^^^ pretending it's a real piano ^^^

Chelsea just loved getting under those buckets. They're timed perfectly so that she can go underneath each one and have water dumped all over her! You can watch her getting dumped with buckets if water in this 14 second IG video. 

This is another lovely hidden gem in Jersey, and definitely a fun place to take the kiddies. Free fun with an affordable splash park! It is a perfect, simple summer place to go to before summer comes to an end! 

Happy weekend all!