Monday, May 9, 2011

Mothers Day Weekend

My oh my what an exciting weekend. I had so much fun with my family. Saturday we got up early and drove roughly 3 1/2 hours to Winston, OR to the Wildlife Safari. When we got there I wasn't sure to expect but no more than 5 minutes into the 1 1/2 park tour I was IMPRESSED. The animals were everywhere and had so much room to roam and be free. Yes its not their natural habitat but hey, they had LOTS of space to roam. We had an emu come walk up to the car and very quickly we had to roll up the windows because of how curious the bird was. It tried eating our antenna which I hadn't even thought I would need to put away. We drove around and saw lions and they were caged but had a huge area and they laid right next to the fence. I had never seen any of the animals so active at the zoo but at the safari these animals were ALIVE and moved, haha. The giraffes roamed free along with a rhino. We saw grizzlies playing with logs in water. Heard lots of different birds(one always sounded like it was laughing). We came across 2 large double humped camels that were standing in the road and people were to nervous to drive because they were so big, we didn't want to scare them. They had cheetahs and tigers that were also caged but they were active. They even have a dog that lives in a pen in the cheetah area and throughout the day the dog and cheetahs play together. There were so many animals and we took a ton of pictures (will be posting soon). One of my favorite parts was that you are only allowed to drive 10 mph or less through the park. Seat belts are not required and kids can be out of their car seats. That meant Michael was up front with us. He sat in my lap and helped drive which he loved and we switched him from side to side so he could see everything and all we kept hearing was "what's that?!" we would explain to him what animal it was and what sound it made and he was look at us, tilt his head back, and "Hahahaha". Once we were done with the park they have a small ZOO like area to see smaller animals. They had a small petting zoo. One cheetah was there that painted. They had camel rides. A large pond with goose, ducks, and geese, and two monkeys swinging in the center to top it off. They had pink flamingos. It was just really neat! We left the zoo and decided to go on another drive through the park and I am so glad we did because the experience was different and things we didn't see the first time we saw the 2nd. It was so much fun. Since we are Oregon Zoo members our admission to the safari was 50% off which was a very nice bonus and with each paid admission you get two entries into the park(which is why we went through a 2nd time). They have lots of activities there including a car wash by and elephant. It costs 20 bucks and is guaranteed not to get your car clean but hey, its worth it if you can say Ur car was washed by an elephant. We didn't do that this time but I think sometime in the future we will definitely have to try that out! I enjoy going to the zoo but the animals are never active, ever, and well they don't have a lot of breathing room. At the safari there was 900 acres to roam free and like I said the animals were ALIVE :) I enjoyed it so much and totally recommend going there, especially with toddlers!

On the drive home we stopped in Eugene to visit our friends and were invited to stay the night and have mothers day brunch the next day. So we did. Michael got to play with the kids and we had a great visit with our friends and our brunch was delicious :) We drove home around 2 and when we got home I made dinner and then my mom came over to watch Michael so we could go see Fast Five. I love those car movies and have really wanted to see that so we went and I was not disappointed. It was awesome.

On another side note we now officially have a Girls Name)which we have had, and now we have our boys name! What a relief. It just clicked out of no where and it's done. I am so happy to have that off my plate now. My mom and friend are convinced its a girl and I don't need to bother with the boys name but I keep saying we don't know, so we need to be prepared!

What a wonderful weekend, and a great mothers day!



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