Turkey Break

There were a couple of things worth celebrating over this break and a couple of things that were equally heartbreaking.  

This is my brilliant cousin Caleb and my gorgeous sister Kitty! We were celebrating Brandie's wedding to Devin.  It was a quaint wedding with a special set of guests.  I count it the highest honor that I get invited to weddings of my family and friends.  I LOVE weddings and I know that so many people have such a hard time deciding who to invite.  I know that people lose sleep and worry about hurt feelings and agonize over their guests.  I adore being among the chosen and actually getting those invitations!  I will do anything I can to attend them all!

And then there is this kid who apparently doesn't know that you can sleep in on breaks.  

Suns up so I'm up MOM!

Wretch.

I got to spend a few evenings sitting in the woods with my daddy.  Yes, I hunt deer.  Yes I wear makeup while doing so.  And of course I had in my pearl earrings.  What if I killed something?  I would need to look cute for pictures.  I am so grateful my daddy took time out of this week, which was possibly the worst of 2015 for him, to spend some time with me.  We didn't see the first deer to shoot, but it was good quality time together.

Disney Safari Day

Thursday's stop was Animal Kingdom.

It was pretty freaking awesome.

Dinosaurs, safari rides, and lots of animals!

Like this little baby deer thing.

So tiny!

 This boy and his dinosaurs.

He's a huge fan.

Huge.

 And this guy, he's a huge cow.

The biggest cow breed known to man.

According to our tour guide possibly the most useless cow ever.

 This little girl is in love with her paci.

See here?!

And she also liked the fish.

 I love gorillas.

I could sit and stare at them for days.

I love watching them move and interact with each other.

 This is Kevin from the movie Up.

If you don't know what I'm talking about go watch the Disney movie Up.

NOW.

Biggest bird on the planet.

 This is a hippo.

It was the ONLY animal Hayes asked to see all day long.

I was just so thankful we finally saw one!

We got to see a handful sunbathing and this guy who was waddling around as well!

Lots of crocodiles.

Lots of them.

In a creepy little pool of water sunbathing.

This tree grows branches that looked like roots.

Our guide explained that it held water that way.

Oh, this is a rare toddler who's not interested in the safari.

She liked her iTouch much better.

Giant animal with horns.

Did  y'all know there are multiple giraffe species?

Similar to birds, they vary in size, coloring, etc.

I had no idea... until Disney taught me.

Wildebeast, otherwise known as Mufasa killers.

 An elephant butt.

The giraffe.

Apparently they have a smaller species on property at Disney.

'Mingoes! (as Hayes would say)

'Mingoes are pink 'cause they eat shrimps.

He's so smart.

And possibly he's been watching Forrest Gump?

The  big rhino.

And his buddy.

Another large animal with horns.

Oh, atop Pride Rock we have a lion.

He was napping.

Clearly failing in his Circle of Life duties.

Giant ostrich eggs.

Zebras:  all patterned differently.

Just like us!

And a pretty little watering hole.

The Animal Kingdom was the best day we had at Disney.

Hayes and Elizabeth LOVED every minute of it.

I could have spent at least 2-3 more days there!

Apparently the shows there are all awesome, so we'll have to make plans to go back soon!



Hissy fits and baby goats....

Immediately after she had been informed that her plans were going to change.

Hissy fit begins.

They are always mildly entertaining.

Full fledged floor or ground fit.  

Complete with screaming and often banging head on the surface area.

Occasionally she discovers that the floor is indeed, harder than her head.

Hard to imagine, I know... but she has to learn somehow!

I typically encourage her to go ahead and throw down.

I also make sure she knows to make it a good one.

She never lets me down!

 Apparently, it is a quick recovery and back to feeding goats she goes.

We went to the Zoo in June. It was busy.

 Waiting patiently for the line to go away so we can get into the Zoo.

The orangutan family snoozing in their hammock.

The red panda bear, who is alarmingly tiny compared to a typical panda bear.

Exiting the Zoo. 
I went DOWN the hill with the double stroller towards the zoo,
and then UP the hill wasn't NEARLY as much fun.
I'm sure my calorie burn was good though.
I pushed a 30 lbs stroller with 60 lbs of kid in it!

 Watching the gorillas play.

 Chatting with the gorillas.

 Over across the way at Meerkat Manor.
Or Timon's house as he said...

 He loved them all and found a NEW love for The Lion King after this trip.

I could have watched the gorillas walk around all day long.
They reminded me so much of Libby James and her crawling...

 A beautiful male Silverback gorilla.

 The giraffe family.

I would sufficiently say that Hayes enjoyed his trip to the zoo.

Hayes has asked EVERY SINGLE TIME we have gotten in the car since this zoo trip if we were going back to see the eeee mals at the zoo. 
I'm so ready to take the trip again. 
Maybe in the fall when the weather in Ga calms down again. 
The 100+ temps are NOT zoo friendly! 

I'm hoping we can go visit Yellow River Game Ranch sometime soon!