ZOO!

Thanks to one of my blogger friends http://gotomomvaldosta.blogspot.com/ I found out that the Atlanta Zoo in partnership with GA public libraries was offering a free family pass.  Thankfully we live far enough from Atlanta that it was actually possible to check out the DVD that you had to watch in order to get the pass because our friends the McCrary's are on a 1 1/2 year waiting list since they live in right outside Atlanta!

Anyway, we decided to make a weekend of it and spend some much needed time with our wonderful friends and their precious little girls.  They deserve many jewels in their heavenly crown because one of Gavin is still WAY wilder than all three of their girls.  But the girls were so sweet to Gavin and loved on him and played with him all weekend.  Their catch phrase all weekend was "Gavin so silly".  They live about an hour from the zoo, so we got up bright and early and headed down there so that we could be there when it opened.  I never really think about Atlanta being any different temperature wise than it is here but boy was I glad it was!  The high on Saturday was 83!!  Let me say that one more time 83!!!  Oh, heaven!  And instead of raining all weekend like it did down here, it was beautiful sunny weather.  The Lord was definitely smiling on us!  

A cute little chipmunk that wasn't in a cage.  I sure wish we had these in Vld instead of squirrels!

We decided to go against the flow of traffic, which was a fantastic idea (Michael) because for awhile, we were almost the only ones there.  First major stop was the petting zoo, Gavin and Avery were all excited but the P's needed a little convincing.

Those were the fattest goats and sheep I have ever seen, I was just waiting for one of their stomachs to explode!

After the petting zoo, we saw a bunch of kangaroos that were pretty interesting, but obviously not interesting enough for me to snap a picture.  Then we moved on to these mean looking things called Bush Dogs.  One got real close to me at the window and it seemed like it wanted me to pet him, but even if it was possible, I doubt I would have been brave enough.

Next we moved on to a super popular exhibit of Tigers!! There were two younger ones and one older one that seemed to want to hang out by himself in the shade instead of play by the window for all of us gawkers.  They were so pretty, Gavin thought they were so cool!

Then we moved onto the Clouded Leopard, who was definitely not disrupting his routine for us.  I really wanted to see him up close, but he decided to stay in his bamboo forest instead.

Michael had fun entertaining Gavin with all sorts of predator sounds.

Then we moved on to the Giant Pandas.  I had no idea that the US actually rents these pandas from China for an EXORBITANT amount of money for like 5 or 10 years and then has to send them back.  They were super neat to observe though.  There was the mom Lun Lun, the dad Yang Yang, Po the baby, and Xi Lan the brother.  All of them except for Po and his Mom were in separate enclosures since Pandas tend to live solitary lifestyles.  It was really nice that at each exhibit were zoo employees to give you lots of background information and fun facts on the animals.

I can't remember what this bird was called but it was very strange looking and happened to be the only big bird picture that came out, so of course I included it.

Me and Gavin observing the  tortoises

 We also saw the Komodo Dragons, the Red Panda, and the ugliest little things ever, Naked Mole Rats.  Gross!  Then we went to this huge exhibit of Orangutans, they had huge obstacle course looking things to play on, it was fun watching them.

Then we made our last stop before lunch in the World of Reptiles.  There were A LOT of snakes and some VERY BIG ones as well.  It made my stomach churn just thinking of one of those monsters escaping!

Next we breaked for a much needed rest and lunch.  Pushing those umbrella strollers up the hills is NO JOKE!  Good workout for sure!

After re-energizing ourselves we went to see the Elephants.  Gavin and I had been practicing our Elephant interpretations for weeks, so I was sure that Gavin would love them.  Well, I guess he wasn't expecting them to be quite so BIG!  He screamed, but it was one of those things where he was fascinated and didn't want to leave but had a death lock grip on either me or Clay the entire time.

Our next stop was the Parakeet House.  There were thousands of parakeets in this screened in porch and you could buy tiny seed sticks to feed them with.  Needless to say, this has to be one of the most profitable things the zoo has because at a $1 a piece and selling them by the truckload, they have to be making a killing.   But of course it is totally worth it.  Poor Gavin's arms weren't long enough to get any to eat his seed and he did NOT want to let Clay hold the stick.

But eventually he gave in and Clay actually got one of the birds to stand on his stick and he could carry him around.  

 Gavin along with a lot of other people, though it was the neatest thing!

After Gavin got bored with it, Clay held it so that another girl could try and transfer the bird to her stick, but the bird decided it would just be easier to eat the seed off of her stick and let Clay hold him.

Isn't this the SWEETEST picture!!

Cute little boy outside of the Lion exhibit.  Gavin kept ROARING at the lions, but they could have cared less.  I can only imagine what they were thinking in their little lion heads about what a tasty snack Gavin would make :-).  

Our last stop before the promised train ride was at the Gorilla exhibit.  They also had a huge place to live like the Orangutans and there were lots of them to watch.  It was really neat to see them interact with each other like we were not even there.  There was one huge silver back, whose forearms were as big around as Clay's waist.  I would not have wanted to meet up with him.....

At last, the long awaited train ride.  We thought we had gotten quite a deal when the tickets were only $2....but after we had to wait for 3 different groups to go before us  and we still only waited probably 20 minutes, we soon realized why.  I can't say it was a rip off because we only paid $2, but goodness gracious, it was the shortest train ride EVER.  I had the impression that we were going to ride all around the outside perimeter of the zoo, WRONG! We went through a dark tunnel, saw the petting zoo, kangaroos, giant tortoises, and the playground and then we were back at the station.

Then Clay and Julie took Gavin and Avery on a ride on the carousel.   I was super excited that Gavin enjoyed this experience SO much more than his last ride on a carousel.  Of course, the previous carousel speed was at Mach 3, while this one went at a normal speed.

After that we spent like 5 minutes on the really cool playground before talking the kids into leaving.  We were all EXHAUSTED!  Gavin was drooling and snoring before we even got out of the parking lot I think.  We decided when we got back to their house that we would take the kids swimming since they had all slept in the car and we wanted to make sure they were good and worn out so they would sleep good.  This is the point where I should have considered the fact that it was only 80 degrees.  Just because all the pools in Valdosta feel like bath water doesn't mean the pools in Atlanta will, when it was been 10 - 15 degrees cooler up there.  BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!  We all had blue lips and were shivering like crazy!!  

We had a WONDERFUL time and highly recommend it to anyone!  It would have been worth it even without the free passes although the passes made it extra nice!

On another note, I ask that you pray for some people I know who are going through a difficult time right now Strong Tower.  She is such an inspiration as she is someone who truly lives out her faith, I encourage you to read her blog.