Lion Country Safari

Last Thursday B and I took our four kids to see the animals and ride the rides at Lion Country Safari in West Palm Beach.  I’d heard of this zoological park many times but had never been so it was a special treat for me too.  Basically you wind your way through miles of paved trails through a wildlife refuge until you hit the amusement park at the end.

And boy did we see animals!  It was the entire cast of Madagascar (minus Gloria) and then some!  So cool!  A lot of the animals came right up to the car and many just crossed the street right in front of us.  The rules state that you have to keep the windows rolled up and drive very slowly for obvious reasons.  I’m actually quite pleased with how the photos turned out given that they were taken through a dusty window.

The amusement park was good old-fashioned fun.  There was a carousel, a small Ferris wheel, a petting zoo, paddle boats, camel rides and miniature golf.  We did pretty much everything and had a great time.  The kids were totally exhausted by the end of the day though.  Cutie Pie didn’t even make it out of the parking lot before nodding off!

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Animal Kingdom

We took the boys to Animal Kingdom on Sunday.  J and I had been a long time ago when the park first opened but could not really remember much about it except for the Tree of Life and the safari ride.  This was the boys’ first trip.  We were all looking forward to checking out the park.

Mid-January is perhaps the best time to visit Orlando theme parks.  The Christmas and holiday crowds have cleared out.  The weather is cool and comfortable.  Even though we went on the day of the Disney marathon, Animal Kingdom was still not very crowded.  I think the longest wait we had for a ride was 10 minutes.

I took a ton of photos.  Be prepared…

We began the day with a safari ride.  Most of the animals were out and about for us to see.  It was pretty amazing to see such a variety of wild animals up close.

Here’s the obligatory brothers photo.  As you can see, Wildman wasn’t exactly thrilled to take a break from his snack to pose for a picture.

We went over to the Nemo show next.  It was really cool how the actors made the animated characters come to life.  I wish my photos of the show came out.   I’m still trying to figure out how to take a decent photo without a flash.  All of mine seem to come out very blurry.

We checked out A Bug’s Life 3D show too.  It was a little too scary for Cutie Pie.  The special effects were awesome but a little too realistic for a two-year-old…  The boys thought the 3D glasses were the best thing ever!  I have to agree.  How cute are these glasses?!

The boys enjoyed touring Dinoland, USA where they dug up dinosaur fossils…

rode a dinosaur ride…

and took a photo in a dino-car!

We had some lunch and ice cream bars…

Then Cutie Pie fell fast asleep.

We took Wildman over to meet some Disney characters at Camp Mickey while Cutie Pie snoozed in the stroller.  When I asked Wildman who he wanted to meet first  he said, “Minnie!!!!”  I was a little surprised that out of all the characters he chose to see Minnie first.  I didn’t know he was such a fan!  So, that’s were we headed, the Minnie line.

We went to see Mickey next.

Cutie Pie woke up just in time to have his photo taken with one of the more obscure characters over at Rafiki’s Learning Center.

We spent the rest of the day returning to ride our favorite rides again and watching the parade.  It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday 🙂

A Special Gift

Wildman and I are laying on the ground together.  Do you know where we are?

Let me give you a hint…

This is the view looking up:

Still don’t know where we are?

Okay, then I’ll just show you.  Here:

We’ve been swallowed by a giraffe!!!!!

Yaya gave Wildman this awesome giraffe tent for his birthday.  He insisted that we set it up in his room as soon as he opened the package.  The giraffe’s head barely misses the ceiling fan!  Giraffes and camping are two of Wildman’s favorite things.  To have a giraffe tent is the ultimate for him.

Wildman is sleeping in his new tent as I type this.  He’s on cloud nine.

P.S. I’m on cloud nine because preschool resumes tomorrow 🙂