Wildlife Safari

I haven't been to the wildlife safari since I was a kid. Amy told us about a Groupon deal for cheap tickets to the safari plus a percent discount code to get them even cheaper!! If we were going to go now was the time to do it!

Mr Rhino was just trottin' along. He walked on behind us and straight toward Mel and Tim's car!

It may seem odd but ever since I was a kid I've had quite the liking towards bison/buffalo. I enjoy seeing them. These aren't as big as others I've seen, like at Yellowstone but I still was happy to see them.

This guy just kept walking along the car with us as we slowly moved on. We sped up a bit when he started grunting at us. 

This cute guy was missing an antler!

Sir Giraffe! He stood so majestic just looking down at everyone. 

This picture makes him look kinda short. However, we did have to crane our necks up to see him.

Along with the tickets we got 3 free feeding cups. We drove in to an area where the animals can be fed. And boy do they know if a car is coming, there's a good chance there's food in it. They came hustling over to get a bite. They'd eat right out of our hands.

Hahaha, you got me. Not our hands. But Jaime and the kids' hands! I think it's neat and the kids had a blast but I just have a hard time letting animals eat out of my hand. Feeling their rough tongues and slimy saliva. No thanks. I can pass and smile as the kids have fun gigging as it tickles their hands. :)

Ok so maybe I have a thing for African animals too.  I feel in awe when I look at the zebras, giraffes, and elephants, and lions. 

The kids named this adorable duck Ernie. We have a series of books by John Himmelman. Chickens to the Rescue, Pigs to the Rescue, Cows to the Rescue, and the newest one...Duck to the Rescue. The duck's name is Ernie. He's such a funny and helpful duck and looks just like this duck did.

The boys had to feed him!

Some dear eating out of Mel and Tim's car.

We walked through the "village" at Wildlife Safari to see other animals that don't roam around. 

Billie goat Aidan!

Didn't expect anything less than a funny face from Liv. She's such a ham...ahem I mean goat?

Tyler the macaw, Lindsey the snake, Olivia the tiger, and Aidan the lion.

Tim the macaw, Ella the snake, Mel the tiger, Miles the lion

Feeding the fish!

And the ducks were quick to swoop in for a snack too.

Even though the others all have their backs to me I like that Jaime smiled at me. I just wanted a shot of all of them there feeding and watching the fish and ducks but pictures with peoples' faces are better than everyone's backs. :) So this picture just makes me smile that he made my picture. Love him!

Gotta stop for another animal picture! I'm not sure if Liv's crossed eyes are on purpose or not. Hahaha

I loved these little blue parakeets. We were able to see a white cockatoo like Nigel from the movie Rio. Connections like that always make things more exciting for my kids. Maybe they watch too many movies? OR they are making real life connections with imaginary and discovering that some of what they watch is real! Ok, maybe I'm stretching looking for something educational. But really, looking at and reading about animals is pretty darn educational. 

Ant eaters are something else! This was one big girl too! Hard to tell the size by a snapshot but she was a lot bigger than what I thought ant eaters were. We found it interesting that her back legs are just like other animal legs, like a dog kind of, but her two front legs are more stumpy and clompy like an elephant's legs. 

We had such a great time. Hearing my kids talking about animals and reading about them and feeding them made for a pretty educational day that they enjoyed. They were able to use this experience to cross off one of their activities for the summer library challenge under the "Explore" category. I really  like that they had goals to accomplish this summer.