3 Zoos, 4 Hotels, 2 Birthdays, 9 Days

***Warning. The following post is VERY long and contains A LOT of pictures! If you are not interested in how we spent our family vacation, feel free to log off now. I will only be slightly offended.***

We had a fantastic family vacation over Labor Day! We drove down to Alabama and spent some time with my Dad and Stepmom, Denise. It's been two long years since we've had the chance to go (as an entire family) and spend some time there. We had so much fun! We celebrated my twin step-sisters' birthdays (Happy Birthday again, Natalie & Ashlie!!) , Afton became fast friends with her cousins, Haley and Amber, we spent some wonderful time hanging out with dad and Denise, and I got a little shopping therapy in. On the way to Alabama we made a side trip to the Safari Wild Animal Park just South of Atlanta. It was pretty neat. They have a walk-through zoo, which seemed very similar to a lot of small zoos I've been to...smaller than ideal cages, but an interesting array of animals. Here's a few:

Is it just me, or do zoos not have kangaroos anymore? I haven't seen one in ages!

The only thing I could think when I saw this guy was "I like to move it, move it!" Does anybody else think he resembles King Julian from Madagascar?

Wild Pigs - these guys stunk! And they just look mean!

Ligers!! Napolean Dynamite - eat your heart out!

A little llama love

And then we bought a couple (ok - 8) bags of food for the animals and we got to rent a very unsanitary, disgusting, nasty van to take through the drive-thru part of the zoo. (Did I mention the van was dirty?) Here are some of the highlights:

We thought it might take a while for Afton to warm up to the idea of hand-feeding the animals, but she jumped right in willingly!

Look at the horns! This guy could do some major damage if he chose too ~ I'm glad we rented their van...I bet the people in front of us in the Lexus wished they had!

I thought this guy was going to jump in the van and ride home with us

Who knew camels could smile? I think a trip to the dentist is in order.

We got to Alabama Saturday night and just relaxed at the hotel that evening. Sunday was spent hanging out with my dad, we went to the mall, where Afton rode on a bunjee jumping/trampoline contraption, I have pictures...somewhere...and then went to see Ice Age in 3-D, this is where I learned that 3-D glasses give me a screaming headache. Monday we got back in the car for the "1 1/2 hour" drive to Nashville, TN to go to the zoo. I put the 1 1/2 hour in quotes because in actuality it took us 3 hours to get there...stupid GPS. The Nashville Zoo is a smaller zoo. They don't have bears or penguins, it only took us about 4 hours to go through the whole thing. It was a lot of walking, but the set-up was great...all the paths are shaded with "misting" areas that spray a mist of cool water on you. We would definitely go back. Just a little bit of what we saw there...

They had beautiful birds...I believe these are Macaws?

Our fearless leader...we called her the "whine" leader.

This is Doublestuff...

This is Doublestuff eating our Zoo Map...

This is the sad little girl who said "That mean goat ate my map & now I don't know where to go next!"

Just a cute little monkey.

Red Panda - I haven't seen one of these in FOREVER!!

Clouded Leopard - really cool.

White Bengal Tiger...fierce!

It was A LOT of walking.

Another cute little monkey.

We ride the carousel at every zoo. It's one of the first things Afton looks for on the map.

There was a special Lorikeet exhibit, you could pay $1 and feed the birds...this lady wasn't too excited about feeding them, but they ate her hair anyway.

They were very friendly. This one eventually hopped onto my shoulder and started nibbling my ear...that was awkward.

The Nashville Zoo has this amazing playground/castle thing. Rope bridges, climbing nets, a 3 story twirly slide...way too cool!

I just like this picture.

The end of a great day.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were pretty quiet. We hung out with Dad & Denise, did a little bit of shopping and just spent some good, quality time together. They are always quick with a joke, but just as quick to compliment and give really good advice. I love the time we get to spend with them and it always seems to pass too quickly. Friday was Natalie's and Ashlie's birthday...they turned the big 3-0!! We had dinner together with the whole family and a couple of their good friends. It was a loud, happy, wonderful time. The great way to end a fun (albeit way too short) stay.

We left Saturday morning for the trip home. We decided to stop in Columbia, SC Saturday night and go to the Riverbanks Zoo Sunday before we finished the drive. It was bigger than Nashville, but not by much...they had more big cats, penguins, bears...and the Pièce de résistance, a giraffe feeding encounter. Afton LOVES giraffes...everytime we go to a zoo she picks a giraffe themed souvenir from the gift shop. So when we told her that she was going to be able to feed one, I thought her head would explode from excitement. Here's a couple pictures from Columbia...

When we saw the monkey lining up the jump, Joe kept whispering "Don't do it, man. Don't do it."

I wish I could have gotten one with her face - it's on the video camera - maybe one of the these days I'll figure out how to get it on here.

We decided she has the coolest job...ever.

As much as Afton loves giraffes, I love these little guys...they are so cool.

Again with the carousel.

Another Lorikeet exhibit. The colors on the birds are amazing!!

Joe made a new friend.

How could you not love a face like that?

Sweet dreams, little guy.