Family Time: A Day at the Zoo

I was a little quiet on the blog-front this weekend, as I was spending some quality "family time" with my parents, whom were in town. Rich was in Michigan for the Nascar race so I decided to take my Mom to the Brookfield Zoo. My sister and niece tagged along for the ride. This was the first test of a potentially expensive outing. How did I hold up?

I had received free admission to the park. Both my sisters are members so I was able to get free parking, dolphin show and children's zoo tickets and discounts on the butterfly exhibit and carosel ride. In the end, Nathan and I only dished out $8! ($2.50 for butterfly exhibit, $3 for 2 carosel rides for the kids {picture of Nathan and my Mom above} and $2.50 for two sandbox animal claws that Belle and Nathan played with when we got home.)

The great thing about Brookfield is that they allow you to bring in your own lunch! I brought in some freebie snacks and bread that I picked up on my amazing grocery store trips. My sister brought some veggies and bottled water. And my Mom picked up the lunchmeat. In the end it turned out to be a really great day and surprisingly, we kept it very frugal!

So if you have family members or friends with zoo passes, don't be afraid to ask if you can borrow them. In return, you can get them all those great freebies at CVS! :)