Fun in the Sun

This past weekend we went to visit my family in Cola town. We haven't been since the middle of January because of the weather up here mostly plus other commitments we had made. We have been looking forward to this visit, especially since it was supposed to be sunny and in the upper 50's to mid 60's!

After my run Saturday morning we were talking about what all we might do during our time with mom and she suggested we go to the Riverbanks Zoo. Sounded great to us! We were up for anything outside!

By the time we got to the zoo it was lunchtime so we stopped off for some grub at the Kenya Cafe. I also didn't think about bringing our stroller so we had to rent these great things. They really were nice. As you can see, the girls loved their lunch and the ride.
Ward was enjoying it, too!
One of our first stops after lunch was to see the flamingos. Let me tell you, these are some fascinating creatures! The kids were thoroughly enamored, including the Wardster.

We then saw the monkeys. They were playing and swinging around which was a treat to see. I've been teaching Ward animal sounds and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to reinforce them. Here would be his monkey sounds. :)
After a few more animals, we ventured over to the "Farm" area. When we were last at Riverbanks we didn't have time for Evie to ride a pony but not this time! Let me tell you this girl is a natural! MF decided she just wanted to watch Evie and did a great job cheering her on.

Photo op!

Of course, we had to get some video.

We looked at ostrich, zebra, elephants, and so many other African animals next. All of our children enjoyed them but especially Evie. I think she's going to be our nature/science/animal lover. Fine with me, that's right up my alley!

Sister time

This fella was sunning himself on the beautiful day. There was a young boy beside us who thought it would be fun to throw rocks at the alligator. He missed most of the time but got close once. At this point, the gator opened his eyes. I told Drew I was waiting for this reptilian beast to really wake up and show the boy who truly was the man (not in any violent way but just calmly show him that he didn't know who he was messing with). :)

One of the highlights was watching these giraffes. The one in the middle is an 8 week old giraffe calf. The one on the right is a 3 week old calf that they only let outside when it's over 60 degrees. This was quite a treat!

We also got to see some different birds, tigers, lions, baboons, grizzly bears (playing with each other I might add), a koala, and wallaby. There were lots more things to see but we thought we'd save them for when we go back in April.

One of the other highlights was a parakeet exhibit. You could buy a small cup of nectar and go into the outside area where they have parakeets and let them eat the nectar and possibly even perch on your hand. Mom, Drew, and Eves went in and were finally able to get a parakeet to perch (there were lots of people in there). I also wasn't able to get any pictures because of the overcrowdedness.

We then got to go over to Dad's last night and have a wonderful dinner with Uncle Grayson and Jessica. It was great being with everyone and seeing all of my side of the family. It sure was hard to leave the warm, sunny weather (and family) but, thankfully, it's supposed to be in the 50's all week here and some rain but not snow! Spring is coming closer everyday and it sure is exciting!