Lone Elk Park, and MORE!

Ok, so Gentleman Romero is a retail manager, which means he has a crazy schedule and when all my friends' husbands are off, he isn't. Some days I really bum over this, like on Saturday night when my IG feed is blowing up with date night photos, and I just said "No," to D for the like 800th time in a 1,000 different ways so not to discourage him that all he does is wrong.
Today wasn't one of those days, as we had a week day adventure of sorts, as one of the perks of his wonky schedule is days off during the week. And lets not forget I've stayed home and "not worked" out side the home for the last 15 months or so of my sons life which is NOTHING to sneeze at, no matter my husbands hours.
Did I mention he's one promotion away from weekends off, and two away from a "normal" schedule? Who wants to be normal anyway?
 Not us, which is why we didn't follow "every one and their mom" to the zoo on this GORGEOUS July day.
We hit Lone Elk Park, The World Bird Sanctuary, and hit up Whole Foods for a little snack- a- roo.

Lone Elk Park was AMAZING! We had a fun picnic lunch first! As you can see D was pretty serious about his lunch, and not so interested in getting his picture taken

Let me show you all the animals we saw, but first, let me show you a selfie! 

Not the best, but hey he was clearly interested in an animal and well I have no excuse….

Serious the park is great! The animals get to roam free (which is important to me and my ever growing lists of causes- ha,ha!) and you get so close to them! 

G- Romero and I saw this herd of elk laying in the grass while scouting our picnic spot.

We originally saw this elk while scouting as well, and came back after lunch because D was awake and could get a look.

He seriously enjoyed seeing the elk. 

Disclaimer: OBJECTS IN PICTURE ARE MUCH CLOSE THAN THEY APPEAR.

When you are entering the Bison Area there is a disclaimer, it reads something to the affect of keeps hand and feet inside vehicle at all times, and that bison have damaged cars.

So when we came upon this bison, and some of his friends.

Honestly, we got a little scared as they started moving towards us.

SEE, RIGHT AT US!

This one was on my side of the car, honestly if the window wasn't rolled up, I could touch it.

These are the ones that moved to G- Romero's side.

On the way out we also saw a sleeping male elk 

 Pretty majestic, huh?

Next we hit up The World Bird Sanctuary, while I wasn't as impressed with the animals living conditions,( no freedom to roam) we did really enjoy ourselves. I also know that they do a lot for conservation and wounded birds, so I don't want people to think I am bad mouthing the organization. I just enjoy when animals get similar freedoms as to when they are in the wild. You know like the opportunity to attack our vehicle if they see fit, ha ha!

 Also hubby and D got a picture with one of the cakes that commemorate St Louis' 250 years as a city. We haven't gotten as serious as some, trying to collect them all. But its fun to pick up a pic or two when we are out and about….

D checking out the chickens, can't wait until he has some of his own!

Here is my hubby sporting what he calls his "doo-rag." It's really a handkercheif, but I guess that isn't quite as cool…. 

 To be honest we were going to hit Lone Elk park the day before but it was too darn far away to get back in time for the hubs' disc golf league.
 Instead we hit Whole Foods (twice in one week, GASP) for a "morning family coffee date" of sorts the first time. Did you know sometimes they have little wagons full of fruit for kids snacks on your way out?We didn't, so after buying 3 bananas, 2 Kuva coffees, a water, and a cinnamon twist to share, we got an extra free banana for D. He finished two off almost all by his lonesome, that is one hungry little boy!
Did I mention we love to go into Whole Foods buy very little and take advantage of all the yummy samples? Its a favorite day date of ours, and just so you know in both shopping trips to Whole Foods this week we spent less than 10$ (each time)  and the second time we even grabbed some things for dinner. I just cut my grocery budget ALOT for the impending (who knows when it will happen) move, (more on that another time)  and I am pleased to say we have done quite well our first month on the new budget. So well in fact I will be sharing one of my favorite throw together healthy recipes soon!

Thanks for checking out our family adventure! Support local conservation in and around your area. We Romero's building family memories from scratch, one family adventure at a time.