On a recent trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo, I was blown away by the improvements. I hadn't been there in a long time, and the cat house and the aquariums -- the zoo grounds in general -- were much nicer than I remembered. I told my friend, "I actually don't feel that bad for the animals."

Although my sons had a great time running around and checking out the animals, every time they heard the train whistle, they asked if it was time to ride the rails. ("Can we ride it now, mom? Can we? Can we?")

Finally, I abandoned my practical course and cut back to the front of the grounds to hop the train. The boys loved every moment of it, from choosing which train car to sit in (they tried out three or four cars before picking the one closest to the engineer) to waving to every person they saw during the ride.

That night, when my husband asked them about their favorite animal at the zoo, Kai said, "We rode the train!" It's true: for many little people, a trip to the zoo is all about the train ride, with the carousel coming in a close second.