I am so excited to be participating in the Booking Across the USA Project this year, hosted by Jodie of Growing Book by Book! Jodie has worked hard with Blue Apple Books to organize the review of the Travels with Charlie series by over 50 bloggers! Each blogger received a copy of the book for their region and will feature a craft or activity inspired by the book. Check out the list of participants for more great ideas!
Growing Book by Book, Everyday Snapshots, Teaching in the Fast Lane, The Educators’ Spin On It, Crayonbox Learning, Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, 3rd Grade Thoughts, Mama Miss, Teaching Stars, Fabulously First, Lemon Lime Adventures, True Aim Education, Guided Math, Primary Inspired, Surviving a Teacher’s Salary, Second Grade Smartypants, The Brown Bag Teacher, The Preschool Toolbox, Country Fun, Picture Books & Pirouettes, One Lesson at a Time, The Resource(ful) Room, Creative Family Fun, Peace, Love, and First Grade, Edventures with Kids, Africa to America, Teach Beside Me, Elementary Matters, Inspiring 2 NH Kids, Pink Stripey Socks, Kid World Citizen, iGameMom, Second Grade Math Maniac, Rockin’ Teacher Materials, Great Peace Academy, Kathy Griffin’s Teaching Strategies, Journey of a Substitute Teacher, My (Not So) Elementary Life, Stir the Wonder, Kidding Around Greenville, The Good Long Road, Kathy’s Cluttered Mind, Curls and a Smile, Dilly Dabbles, Mama Smiles, Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts, Sprout’s Bookshelf, All Done Monkey, Growing Firsties, ALLternative Learning, Delightful Learning, Kids Yoga Stories, Where Imagination Grows

Photo via Amazon
Charlie Travels to Rhode Island
We received the book Travels with Charlie: Travelin’ the Northeast free for review from Blue Apple Books. This is an adorable book, filled with interesting facts about the twelve states of the northeast, a cute rhyming poem about each state and an i-spy illustration with a hidden Charlie to find!
Inspired by the book, we took Charlie on a trip to Roger Williams Park Zoo. It is one of the nations oldest zoos and is located in Providence, Rhode Island. There we spent a warm, sunny, Spring morning exploring the zoo, checking out all the animals and sharing tasty treats only available in Rhode Island!
Field Trip to the Zoo
Roger Williams Park Zoo has so many animals to see our favorites were the elephants, giraffes and harbor seals. The harbor seals were particularly entertaining that day. They kept bellowing out really loud and seemed to be responding to my husbands replies. It was so funny! Although Caden thought they were too loud!

Caden protecting his ears from the loud bellows from the Harbor Seals.
Our favorite part of the zoo is a newer feature called Our Big Backyard. It has the most awesome play spaces for children, that I only dream of including in our own backyard! Caden loved playing with the water feature wall and the block building pit created around the base of a big shady tree! They also had a fun climbing wall and a creativity area with art easels and water for painting and a musical stage with many instruments to play! I loved how this play space in the city included as many natural elements as possible, I’m sure it is a great treat for the urban kids!
After walking around looking at all the animals and playing in the amazing play space, we sat down near the elephants area to await their appearance and shared some delicious frozen Del’s Lemonade with Charlie! Del’s Lemonade is a favorite Summer treat for Rhode Islanders, it’s the best!

Charlie enjoying some refreshing Del’s Lemonade.
The image of Charlie was provided to me by Blue Apple Books. I simply printed him out on some cardstock and taped a large craft stick on the back with some clear packing tape. The craft stick made it easier for Caden to hold Charlie on our little adventure to Roger Williams Park Zoo!
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I’ve never been to the Roger Williams Park Zoo but it looks like fun! (Am I the only one who wants to see the tortoise the most? lol!) I especially love that Our Big Backyard feature!
Our Big Backyard looks so cool! Thanks so much for being a part of Booking Across the USA!