Binder Park Zoo

On Thursday Aunty Sierra drove us to the Binder Park Zoo about an hour west of Ann Arbor on the way to Kalamazoo. Her mum Andrea met us at the zoo with Caspar (2) and Scarlett (10 months). They are Sierra's nephew and niece and belong to her brother Tyler and sister in law Sarah. We all enjoyed catching a special tram painted with zebra stripes to the Wild Africa experience where we fed the giraffes and Bella took a challenge to become a ranger!

Feeding the giraffes

Look at that tongue!

The Zebra Tram

Brushing the goats 

Sari and Bella convinced Sierra to take them on the carousel - Bella rode a Bongo, Sierra rode a monkey and Sari rode on a Koala! 

So that is zoo number 2! We have a plan to try and visit every zoo and animal park within 100kms of Ann Arbor! 


After the zoo we carried on to Kalamazoo (this created a bit of confusion "Is it Kalama Zoo?") and stayed the night with Sierra's parents Mike and Andrea and their 4 dogs. Nick and Steve joined us with Tempo so that made 5 dogs! Bella loved spending time with the dogs that she remembered from last time we visited 4 years ago. Sari overcame her initial fear and by the time we left she was outside with all 5 dogs. "I am looking after the dogs." The girls enjoyed Mike and Andreas hot tub, the dog agility course in the backyard and Smokey the breakfast chefs (Mikes) fantastic breakfast. Bella and Sari were very sad to go and kept telling Caro that they had only stayed for one night! 

The girls, Nick and the dogs on the agility course

Mike and Andreas house

Andrea, Bella and Sari reading a book about dog breeds and choosing which dog Bella should get when she goes back to NZ!