Moapa Roos-n-more Zoo

My friend Gina Piet told me about this little privately owned zoo in Moapa Valley called Roos-n-more. She told me it was $10.00 apeice and that it was only open a few days a week so to check their website to find out the dates. She also told me it is a very hands on place and that if you bring cut up fruit and veggies that you would be able to feed the animals. It was open yesterday (9:00am- 1:00pm) so I took the kids on a summer field trip. I was a little worried because we had to get up early to go (it takes an hour to get there, so if you arent there on time- you miss out on the animals) I also made the kids leave all electronic devices home. No phones, ipods, or DS's! There was a tiny bit of disgruntledness but not too much. When we started out, I smelled a weird smell like the engine was overheating and it really freaked me out- what if we got stuck on the side of the road? Who would I call? So I stopped at a truck stop by the Speedway- can you believe you had to have your own hose to use the water spigot? RRRRR! So I got back on the freeway and stopped at the next one- SAME THING!!!! Who knew? But this time I got a bit smarter- I sent Slate in to buy a gallon of water and we used that and then filled it back up and used it again. Then finally, we were on our way! We got out there and I wasnt really expecting too much. It looked like it was just in someones back yard. But it was seriously so much fun! They had kangaroo's, giant snakes, monkeys, a baby llama, porcupines, more monkeys, camels, a baby zebra, a beaver and tons of other stuff. And you could hold or touch almost everything out there. Dakota tried to make out with the camel. It was totally gross. She held a baby carrot in her mouth and the camel ate it out of her lips. Slate held the snake around his neck and balanced a monkey named Keiko on his head. Tevin was a little shy at first to touch or hold anything but by the end he was all over it. It was so much fun. I am so glad that we went out there. It was definately worth it. It was a bit hot so the kids were ready to go after 2hrs. but it was fun. And as it turned out- I am really glad I made the electronics stay home because on the way home, I have these question card things in my car and we started reading them and answering them. It was great hearing the conversations and answers. I think that I am going to ban electronics on future car rides! (I know they will be SOOOO excited about that!) We were all hungry too so I let them choose where they wanted to eat and they all chose A-China-Go-Go (super delish chinese food) It was really MMMM!!!!

When we got home we were all so tired that everyone (except Tevin) took a nap for a couple of hours. And then when we all woke up, Tevin wanted to play a game of cards. Forw whatever reason I chose to play Phase 10. Did you know that it takes about 4 hrs to play a complete game? Jamen came home from work after we had just started and he wanted to play so he showered and came and joined us. He totally kicked butt! It was really fun and for the most part everyone was nice to each other.

Then we had Family Home Evening. I put Dakota in charge of the lesson. She chose to do it on grattitude. She did a really good job and challenged us to write in our journals everyday about something we are grateful for. Then at the end she bore her testimony of grattitude. She was really great.

After that we watched the movie Return to Me. That is truly one of my favorite movies. And I loved hearing the kids laugh out loud at the funny parts!

Yesterday was a really great day! I loved it all! The only thing that couldve made it better was if Lorin could have been with us. It was a bummer that he had to work!