A visit to the world's greatest zoo

My extended family is one big bunch of zoo lovers. My grandma likes to say that whatever city we visit, the first place we go is the zoo. And while Brookfield Zoo might not officially be the world's best zoo, we all think we've never seen one finer.

I've been going to the Brookfield Zoo since I was a little girl, so it was a real treat to take Frank there for the first time.

Angela and Joseph with their favorite person in the whole wide world

 We saw lions and tigers (but no bears) ...

Penguins, parrots, and the world's cutest (and deadliest) little tree frogs.

Of course, the kids got excited when they found a chance to pretend to be animals themselves. (And yes I'm including Frank in "the kids.")

Frank and Joseph even held Angela upside-down so we could get a truly authentic bat picture.

Cutest bat I ever saw.

I hadn't been to Brookfield Zoo in a few years, but I was even more impressed with it coming back as an adult. Frank thought it was funny that the zoo is mostly indoors (on an extensive campus filled with beautifully designed buildings), but we realized that just makes sense in Chicago. You don't want to leave the gorillas hanging outdoors in a Chicago winter!

Brookfield Zoo is open 365 days a year, and as I recall they have some spectacular winter events for the annual "Holiday Magic" festival—including singing Christmas carols to the polar bears, who obviously just adore it. ;)

This is one place I'd recommend to friends of any age. Everyone in our family just loves it. Let me know if you get a chance to check it out some time!