Day 50

Today we went to Lake Tobias with Heather, Connor and Brigid.  It is about 45 minutes away and I have driven past it but we never stopped.  I thought Baylor might be too young the last two years but Brigid is 16 months old and did great.  She is such a happy little one and just goes along with everything.  The boys headed straight up a path together. 

I know I am biased but he is such a handsome little man!  I cannot get over how cute he is. 

They were standing on the fence looking into the mountain lion pen.  I promise she is in the log cabin.

The keepers were there and shooed her out of the cabin so they could clean.  She was not happy about it and headed back as soon as they were done but we did get a good look at her. 

Baylor loves climbing hills and running back down.  I keep waiting for fall down the hill where he breaks his crown but so far we have managed to avoid that.

One of the attractions is a ride on the bus without a top through the safari park.  Baylor still loves buses and this was certainly exciting.  We were there about 15 minutes and he was already red and sweaty. 

The Rheas were everywhere and had tons of babies.  The males do the sitting and the driver said they call this Daddy Daycare.

See Brigid peeking back at us?  We were the last to board the bus and we were three rows apart.  We did not buy any food to feed the animals and it was not as obvious where to buy as it was at the Reston Zoo in VA.  A nice family passed around the rye crisp crackers to share with some of the kids on the bus.  These animals were not as eager to eat as the animals in VA. 

A few stopped by but were not as aggressive as our last ride. 

This is a cross between a male zebra and a female donkey.  Once a male zebra mates with a donkey, they will never mate with a zebra.  I guess once you have piece of ass, you never go back to stripes.  Apparently they are also the best of all the worst traits from both breeds, stubborn, mean, and ornery.

Asian water Buffalo and they did not have a sample of any fresh mozzarella cheese. 

They handed around this antler which Baylor thought should now be his to take home. 

This is a yak that can cross the Himalayan Mountains.  They are some kind of Temple yak, it was hard to hear sometimes.  They need to have a patterned coat or something, again hard to hear.

After the ride it was time for lunch.  Heather stood in line and I watched the boys as they burned off some energy running, climbing the walls, and running some more. 

What a cutie she is! 

The boys ate their lunch and then we all had ice cream.  Baylor, the daring darling he can be, wanted to eat on the wall.  Connor had to convince his mom to join him and they did great together. 

Then it was off to see the animals.  This baboon was running around the pen and the kids would chase it.  I think both primates enjoyed the game. 

The alligators were in the next pen.  This guy never moved.  There were two others in the pen but they were hanging out in the water. 

The bears were cooling off in the shade.  It was almost 90 degrees and we were all pretty hot. 

The zebra was friendly but no one seemed too interested in the crackers we finally purchased

or biting fingers of little kids.

A tiger was just rolling around.  We were hoping he would take a swim but he never took a dip.

The kangas were napping.

An East African Crowned Crane.  I really wanted a good head shot of him but the fence got in the way.

Or I was too high.

Then we went to the petting zoo.  When Connor was here last time a little goat butted him in the butt and Connor was very leery about going in there.  Baylor, not so afraid, was telling the other kids to pet the goats, they are friendly.  They were not interested in the crackers. 

No one got spit on.

And he did not want the crackers either. 

Brigid pet the skunk without stripes. 

Baylor and Connor stuck with the goats. 

A Fallow deer, who was not interested in the crackers, shocking!

The tortoise was sweet with his little tortoise friend.

The peacocks were running amok and were pretty. 

This is a sacred cow from India.  He looked very velvety. 

In the next pen was a mini donkey who let the boys pet him. 

A pot bellied pig all by himself in the shade. 

A macaque talking to us. 

This is a better shot of the crane, but still to high up. 

We worked  our way to the play area and the boys burned off the rest of their energy and we headed out.  No one napped and they played a bit in the yard before heading home.  We talked about a few other places to take the kids next year and I am looking forward to making more memories with the kids. 

When we got home, Pap was pulling into the driveway right in front of us.  I took Baylor out of his seat and he ran up to him asking, "Pap, why are you here? Nothings broke."  Pap is a fix-it man and we always tell Baylor we will have to call Pap when something breaks.  Of course since Meme was staying forever according to Baylor, there was no other reason for Pap to be there.