binder park zoo

I want to start by saying that traveling around with four kids is no joke, even if the destination is only an hour away. My family and I planned to spend the day at Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek, Michigan. We wanted to leave early around 8am (yes that is early to me!) so I had to wake the family up around 6:00am. Do you know how bad it sucks waking SLEEPING BABIES!! Ugh, but it had to be done in order for them to get a bottle and changed before we left.  I packed everything the night before so we could avoid any delays the next day but I still found myself packing everything in sight in the morning. Are two cans of formula really necessary for a day trip? I think not, but what happened if I dropped one and spilled it all over the place? Do you think they’ll need six blankets on a slightly warm summer day? Ha, better safe than sorry when it comes to newborn needs! Alas, we were all out the door at 8:10… and on our way to Starbucks. Moms have needs too. 🙂

The weather was WONDERFUL for a zoo day. Breezy, cloudy and a reasonable temp. If any of you have new babies you know what it is like to have to hold the group up so you can do a feeding or change a dirty diaper. “Can we stop so I can feed them?” came up a lot. Luckily my parents were troopers and didn’t mind all the time outs. My oldest daughters, although always slightly irritated, are use to it.  I recommend bringing a baby carrier when the babes get too fussy. It was nice to let them stretch out for awhile so they weren’t confined to their car seat for hours.  Another zoo must have were my Milk Snob covers. Seriously, I talk about these all the time on my social media pages but EVERY NEW BABY NEEDS THESE. They kept out pesky bugs and stranger’s dirty hands. I won’t even go into how many random people will try to look into your car seat. My usual responses include “Yup, they’re twins.” “Yes, they are boy and girl.” “No, a boy and a girl cannot be identical.” Then start walking at a faster pace so they don’t try to reach in. What I really want to say is “touch my kids and I’ll cut you”.

ANYWAYS.. we all had a great time but after being there for 6 hours, I think all of us were running to the exit. If you watched my snap chat you would have seen the babies freaking out in the car. They were hungry and exhausted I’m sure, since they didn’t sleep much at the zoo. We stopped to a restaurant to feed them and ourselves. Usually I would just keep driving and wait until we got home but we still had an hour drive and there is no way I was going to listen to screaming the whole way. Overall, it was great day and babies are so fun to travel with. Sometimes. The Woburn, MA landmarks have many exciting places tourists can visit.