Lil' Explorer Thursdays

It was a nice day today, with mild, mid-40 degree weather. It was a perfect day to do something, anything, as long as it was outside of the house. Every Thursday morning through much of the winter and into the spring, Como Park Zoo and Conservatory hosts Lil' Explorer Thursdays. In an open area of the conservatory there are rugs and tables set up with various activities, all tied into a theme. Today's activities all focused on seeds, plants, and trees. After planting a seed to take home, playing in a seed sensory bin, putting together a tree puzzle, and counting out apples and oranges to put on a paper tree, we moved on to touring the gardens in the conservatory, then the zoo.

Dancing Like She Doesn't Care Who's Watching

Playing deadmau5 always results in dance parties.

Winter Thaw

I don't dare say that spring is arriving just yet. There's still time for winter and well below freezing temperatures to return. But I can at least say that the feeling that winter is eternal is slowly beginning to ebb away.

Also disappearing is our snow pack. It's not melting quickly, but it is melting. There is a visible difference between today and a few days ago.

Temperatures today reached into the low 40s. If the sun shines tomorrow, we might hit 50 degree.

I helped Evie into her winter gear this afternoon and she spent over an hour outside playing in the snow. Even when she went back inside the house, it was only because she lost both of her snow boots in the snow (trying to climb through a deep section) and I ushered her inside while I retrieved them.

Sand toys turned snow toys

1... 2... 3...

Jump!

The Raptor Center

Today, Evie and I took a field trip to The Raptor Center, a facility on the University of Minnesota Saint Paul campus. They help rehabilitate injured and sick birds, as well as house some that are unable to return to the wild. We were given a tour through part of the facility where we were able to get a close view of eagles, red-tailed hawks, peregrine falcons, a turkey vulture, kestrels, a large owl, and small owls.

We followed up the visit with some coloring pages of the birds we had seen. Well, Evie colored while I talked to her about our trip.

For the rest of the afternoon, Evie pretended to be a turkey vulture, eating "dead stuff." I think one of the more memorable moments during our tour was watching the turkey vulture tear apart and eat a piece of chicken (meat, feathers, bones and all).

Music Under Glass

We made an attempt to escape the cold.

We made it as far Como Park Zoo and Conservatory for their last "Music Under Glass" performance.

Every Sunday night from early January to the first of March, local musicians perform in the sunken garden room at the conservatory. Using overhead speakers, the music can be heard in other parts of the conservatory, as well. Except, for this performance, we could hardly hear the musicians anywhere other than the room where they played. 

We would have liked to hear more of the music, but we still enjoyed walking around the warm gardens.

Evie especially liked visiting the koi pond. It is her favorite part of the conservatory.

Too soon it was time to leave and head back out into the windy, below zero temperatures. We reached our 50th day this winter with a below zero temperature reading.

Woo hoo.