Thanksgiving 2011

We are so thankful for these 3 little turkeys

On Thanksgiving we have lunch at our house. Here's Matthew with "The Bird"

Our annual watching of the parade
Matthew & Michelle decorating the cupcakes
Turkey & cornacopia cupcakes Let's eat
The kids table
Or is this the kids table?

Later that night Naw & Paw came.

And we went shopping - all night!

Safari

While on our camping trip we made a stop at Pine Mountain Wild Animal Safari. Jennifer has had this place on her radar for quite some time. I am so glad she did because it was the best. It had two parts. One was just a walk through zoo type displays with tigers, ligers, wolves & other small caged animals. They loved the chance to get their pictures made in the animals.

The second part was an interactive bus ride. Just waiting on the Zebra bus was fun. The kids were so excited to ride a bus they forgot we were going to see animals.
You have to purchase bags of feed for the animals. Jennifer and Ellie are all ready to go. It was not a crowded day so we had plenty of room on the bus. This would come in very handy later on the ride.


The bus had open windows so you could get a great view of the animals.

Animals of all kinds would come all the way up to the window. They even knew to put their tongue to one side so they could catch the feed.
They were so excited they saw zebras, deer (several kinds), buffalo, cows, steers, lamas, ostriches, boars, camels, rhino, and lots more...

Look guys! One of Santa's reindeer!!! Up to this point the kids were loving the ride. They would toss food out as the bus moved along through the trail. They would bounce around and say "look at dat - mama-daddy". The fun was about to change. I failed to mention the giraffe. That was because we did not just see the giraffe we had a full blown giraffe encounter. As we approached, the kids were soooooo ready see him.
But they did not expect him to stick his head into the bus. He was grabbing food as Ellie and Evan threw it at him trying to get away.
I think Charlotte's reaction is pretty clear. Just enjoy the approach.
Mommy finally gives him some food
They got over it pretty quick - see a quick smile from Charlotte as she feeds the deer.
Having the extra space on the bus was very helpful. Look at the horns on these cows. Evan liked to touch them as I dropped food into their mouths.
Our bus driver was also a tour guide. These below are lamas. He told us that they will spit. Just what we need for the kids to see - spitting animals. We were warned that if we saw their ears pinned back they were about to spit. Look at the small one. Look out he's about to spit!!!

We still talk about the ride and they love it when I act like a giraffe coming into the window to lick them!!! I am sure we will have to make another trip down to the Safari.

Pine Mountain

The weekend of Halloween we went on another camping trip. We headed down south to Pine Mountain, GA. It was a beautiful fall weekend and of course we had so much fun.

On Friday we went to Callaway Gardens and enjoyed the colorful flowers for picture taking. Doesn't Evan look thrilled?

We went to the Butterfly center.

Fed the fish
Played in the leaves!

I've had to resort to offering candy so they will pause for a picture. It works on Ellie!

Now to the gardens

A week before we went the kids were watching an episode of "Little Bear" and he was rolling in the grass. As soon as Evan & Ellie saw that big open space of grass they were rolling. So funny!
Looking at the dragon together

Charlotte just wanted to sit in the tree.
Later that night we went to the Roosevelt Stables for a pony ride. Ellie was in heaven and said "I'm holding on tight daddy"Too cute in her boots

Evan had to wait his turn & loved it too!
All he needed was his cowboy hat.
This was the only pony Charlotte would ride, but she loved it.

Yee Haw