Growing up, being able to go to the National Zoo in Washington, DC was always a treat.  It was the closest zoo to us and still roughly an hour and a half away from where I grew up.  It was fascinating as a child to see all of these exotic animals that we only read about in stories.  Bald eagles became my favorite birds throughout the years and I was obsessed with the panda bears. I remember actively trying to find my name on a mug or a magnet, but that never did happen. Fast forward to now being a parent and it’s one of my favorite places to take Skibbles too.  Yesterday, we went there with some friends, and it was Pumpkin’s first time.  Although, she’s only 5 months, so she just slept a lot of the time. Skibbles LOVESSS seeing all the animals.  She gets so giddy and excited and admittedly more than once, she has tried to scale the fence to get into the giraffe area (can you blame her for trying?).   While it’s hard to pick just five things, here’s our list of 5 things you MUST do before leaving the Philadelphia Zoo:

1- Hang out in the Peco Primate Preserve – Lemurs, Gorillas, Orangutans, Gibbons, and more – Oh my! This is one of our favorite exhibits in the entire park.  There’s always lots of active primates, especially if the gibbons are out in the large outdoor area.  There are a mom, dad, and two boy gibbons and the kids went crazy watching the run, swing, and flip over and over again.  It’s always a special treat if you can get the gorillas or orangutans to come up to the window too.  What’s best if that there’s always a keeper around they are full of so much information.  I love hearing their stories.

2- Visit KidZooU – Amazingly, before yesterday we had never gone into this area in the three or four times I’ve taken Skibbles to the zoo.  Never again will we miss the opportunities.  There’s so many fun things for the kids to do up here and it includes a ton of educational materials to learn while they explore, but by far her very most favorite part was being able to sit and brush the goats.

3- First Niagara Big Cat Falls –  Anytime you tell Skibbles we’re going to the zoo, she immediately says “LION SAYS ROARRRRRR”.  So much to her surprise the first time we went and she was able to see baby lions running around, she was so excited. Anytime you can catch the tiger or jaguar walking past the window is always a great day too! There’s also something to be said about being insanely close (or so it seems) to a lion

4- Take a safari in the African Plains – Giraffes and Zebras and two of Skibbles favorite animals, so it’s no wonder this is one of her favorite places to stop.  And yes — I really do swear that every time we go she tries to scale the fence to get over there with them, especially the giraffes.  She also always calls the rhinoceros a hippopotamus which is hysterical to me.

5- Play in the treehouse.  You have to have a membership to do this, but it’s such an awesome break.  We usually stop in here about halfway through our trip for the day.  It gives us adults a chance to sit down and let the kids run and play free while exploring and getting some energy out.  It’s fascinating to them to see giant dinosaur eggs that they can crawl into, a ginormous bee hive they can come up, and best of all the actual tree house that you can climb all the way to the top.

We absolutely love this place and it’s one of the easiest places to get to in Philly.  If you try to do everything in a day, you can definitely spend the entire day at the zoo.  There’s a ton of open sitting areas, benches, and tables, so we love packing snacks and lunches and eating outside surrounded by the cool breeze and open air. We love going in the fall when there’s not a ton of crowds and the animals seem to love the chill a bit more as well.

Have you been?  What’s your favorite part of the zoo?

Every year since Skibbles has been born, we have gone to a pumpkin patch with Andrew’s brother and his family to the same location of a large farm in Pennsylvania.  We have also gone by ourselves with some friends to a smaller, local to us farm here in New Jersey. One was extremely small and one was very commercialized and overstimulating for the entire family.  This year, our sister-in-law recommended that we go to a smaller farm in Pennsylvania that she heard about called Chester Springs Creamery at Milky Way Farm for their Fall Harvest. It didn’t take much convincing – she had me on board at creamery.

They have the standard flavors like chocolate and strawberry, but they also have seasonal flavors and non-traditional combinations inside the creamery like Joy’s Peanut Butter Fudge, Jingle’s Peppermint Stick, Trudy’s Raspberry Truffle, and Paradise’s Pina Colada Sorbet. We got Skibbles Summer’s sweet strawberry, while Andrew had a combination of Beau’s Brownie Bliss and Caramel’s Dulce de Leche, and I had Autumn Harvest Cheesecake.  We swooned over the creamy and bold flavors that poured out in each bite we had. All the flavors are named after the cows on Milky Way Farm where the milk for the ice cream comes from. And the hot apple cider. Oh, the cider.  It’s absolutely remarkable.

After leaving the creamery, we went to see the small petting farm area they had.  There were lambs and goats, chickens, pigs (but no touching them, apparently they can bite!), geese, and a precious 5 week old calf named Holly.  Skibbles was obsessed with Holly for most of our visit and kept walking back over to her and giving her a hug and telling us how soft she was.  Towards the end of the visit, she got a goat to come over to her and she was amazingly excited to feed him grass.

After playing with the animals, we waited in a short line to take a hayride around the farm.  Believe it or not, Andrew has NEVER been on a hayride before.  I couldn’t believe it when I heard him say this.  We loved that we received a brief history lesson about the farm, including that many of the buildings on the premises are original and most were built between 1790s and 1820s and that the family still lives in the farmhouse.

We finally arrived in the pumpkin patch that was very spread out and even though there were dozens of people in the fields looking for the perfect pumpkin for their family, it seemed like we were alone at the same time.  We learned that some of the larger pumpkins are brought in; however, many of the pumpkins are grown right there on the premises.  We even found some still attached to the vines and Skibbles had fun playing with the vines.  We ended up finding a few perfect pumpkins for our family and they have extremely reasonable prices for their pumpkins. We took the walking trail back to the main area and it was the perfect ending to the day.

Chester Springs Creamery also offers a range of other produce, farm fresh eggs, and merchandise for sale. Additionally, they offer birthday parties and farm tours. It was the perfect experience for our family and we can’t wait to go back again next year!

If you haven’t heard of the Philly Farm Fest yet, you’ve been completely missing out on one of the best events Philly has to offer. Last year was the first year I heard about the Philly Farm & Food Fest and when I attend I was blown away and I’m so excited to be working with them again this year in order to share with you all about this amazing event.

WHO: 4th Annual – 2015 Philly Farm & Food Fest

WHERE: Pennsylvania Convention Center (1101 Arch Street)

WHEN: Sunday, April 12, starting at 11AM

WHAT: Presented by Whole Foods Market, Fair Food and the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) invites all adults and children to attend this year’s event that introduces or confirms the lifelong benefits of healthy and sustainable eating habits. With over 150+ exhibitors, attendees will be treated to a wealth of free samples from local farmers, growers, and small businesses, helping to expand palates, find a new healthy snack, or a local CSA to participate in this summer. Attendees will receive a complimentary shopping tote from Whole Foods Market to load up on samples and products available directly for purchase from the vendors.

More Fun: In addition to the amazing samples that each vendor will have available, attendees are encouraged to pose for a photo at Whole Foods Farm-y Photo Booth to enter to enter $25 Gift Cards.

Attendees can also participate in Classroom Takeover sessions hosted every hour starting at 11:15.  Class sessions focus on four main areas: Urban Homesteading, Local Cookbook Authors, Kids’ Classroom, and Butcher’s Block. Learn about topics such as composting, chickens, bees, expanding your meat budget, or how to cook goat or rabbit.  The most exciting part is that families can participate in kids’ classroom events together like making homemade tortillas or growing watermelons from seeds. Classroom schedules can be found here.

I hope you’ll join me for this absolutely amazing event!  With live demonstrations, interactive exhibits, and 5 hours of LOCAL food, you are guaranteed to have an absolute blast!

 GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

Tickets are $20 per person.  Children 12 and under are admitted for free.

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