Petsmart: Better than the Zoo
With 3 unpredictable children, Dan and I haven't dared buy family passes to any of the local attractions in our area. Most of our friends in town have passes to the recreation center, {Thanksgiving Point}, and/or {Hogle Zoo}. But we don't, mostly because last summer I felt very adventurous taking the kids to get a cupcake by myself--taking the kids swimming would have been impossible.
But this year I've discovered we still don't need a family pass to anything because we discovered PetSmart. And it's free.
Maggie and the boys have spent the last couple of weekends going up and down every aisle and squealing with delight at each bird, fish, frog, kitty, and gerbil. PetSmart doesn't sell dogs (they want you to go to the shelter--so smart) but they do dog grooming in front of an enormous window--so we can watch 6 dogs at a time getting haircuts. Maggie absolutely loves this and stood spellbound waiting for a certain hairy dog's eyes to appear from under the mop of hair on his face. Plus there are more dogs on leases with their owners checking out dog toys and the like. Will barked at each one. Sometimes he thinks he's a puppy.
Did I mention that all of this is free? Bonus--I don't think Maggie knows it is a store, as in, everything there could be bought and taken home. So basically, there's no pressure--just fun.
Are there any free activities your kids love? Do share!
12 comments:
If I have to go to the Bean museum one more time...........or the museum up at Hill Airforce........
I don't think I have any suggestions, but I am just "amen"-ing your PetSmart idea. Last year when it was my week to teach Ethan's preschool, the topic was pets, and so I took the 4 kids on a little "fieldtrip" to Petsmart where you can see not just 1 or 2, but like 14 different kinds of pets, PLUS the dog grooming (AWE*SOME), and it was the BEST, FREE fieldtrip ever and the kids LOVED it!! What a great idea to take your kids there. Brilliant.
I'm with Rachel-
Freakin' Bean Museum.
It's like Nate's favorite thing and I spent two Friday Nights there- in a row- just recently.
Maybe next time, I'll suggest Petsmart!
(actually, it's perfect because when I'm shopping at Old Navy, Steve takes Nate there and we're all happy!)
We've TOTALLY done the PetSmart thing! Sara loved looking at all the birds and fish. Somewhere else we took her recently that she LOVED was Pottery Barn Kids. She had so much fun playing with their little displays and pushing a tiny shopping cart around. Except that might be a little harder for older kids 'cause they probably will figure out it's a store and will want to buy something, and those price tags are a little too high to be bringing anything home!
there was this Cheese Factory back home, Das Kase Haus. You could watch from behind glass windows while they MADE the cheese. Every day, until 3:30pm. AND they had little samples of EVERYKIND of cheese. (The sign said to limit "tastes" to 1 of each kind... which was still A LOT!) It was sort of a tourist attraction that was about halfway between our town and the next small town. Anytime we knew we'd be going past, my mom would let us stop. We loved it. and it was FREE!!! Woo!
Also, when my chillens were little, I'd take them to the water feature at liberty park. It was FREE and then we'd circle over by the pond and feed the ducks. They thought it was sooooo cool!
Brilliant Megan! My children have enjoyed the pet store too. Matter of fact, they still do, even the 15 year old :)
I LOVE your perspective on this. LOVE it.
We alos LOVE Petsmart lol... it is the perfect place with twins and a three yr old!! So glad there is someone else out there that has the same situation :)
feeding ducks at the park, and I know this isn't completely free but for $3.99 and NOT having to unbuckle one kid OR get out of your car...we go to the carwash. lol They love it. Driving through was scary for the kids when they were little but they laugh and have a good ol' time now. Score.
That is so funny and so smart. Leave it to you...
I think you already know about this but he home depot thing every first Saturday of the month is great!!! We love it. They each get their own little aprons and then each time they go they get a new pin for the project. They make these cool little wood toys or whatever and when we are done I get to stare at wood flooring, paint colors, and solid wood doors. (Even Benjie likes it so I think the twins would love it too.) We do look on-line before we go to make sure we want three of whatever it is...if it is something we don't really want I just send the bigger kids with the dad. ;)
My house is better than the zoo and petsmart! Let me know when Maggie wants to play cowgirl.
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