Last week Jack had a paper for school where he had to argue whether there should be zoos or not. 

Interestingly, he argued against zoos, siting some animals as dangerous predators, taking animals away from their families and housing them in the wrong climate.

I asked him why he argued against zoos, since we go and visit our local one quite often and he said it was easier to argue against, that there were more arguments against than for.

I love his practical nature!

Which means he wasn’t bothered to walk to the zoo with us this weekend.

I must admit, personally it makes me feel squeamish sometimes to eyeball a bunch of caged animals for fun.

Still, even after all the arguments against, there are still plenty for.

Like the fact that our kids get such great exposure to many different real live species.

Regenstein African Journey

Regenstein African Journey

Quite often it starts a talking point and a learning opportunity. Like whether polar bears and the black bear are the same thing.

New Polar Bear Exhibit

Pritzker Family Zoo Black Bear

Otters at the Pritzker Family Zoo

Pritzker Family Zoo

Pritzker Family Zoo

And our zoo provides all these interesting sights for free!

I also liked that we skipped snacks and had a ridiculously  early dinner at Eleven City Diner, where you can order breakfast ALL DAY long.

(It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.)

Early dinner means we have the run of the place and our wiggly kids don’t annoy other customers!

Afterwards we visited their candy counter for dessert. Loved all the old school treats!

It was a really nice day out, we have been so lucky to have another mild winter that makes it possible to wander around outside and it not be numbingly painful.