Birthday Safari

Yesterday was Kurt's birthday. He is 24! When did we get this old? (not that 24 is old, but I don't feel like we are in our mid-twenties) Moving on before I stick my foot in my mouth once again.

Back to the birthday. We went to a drive-thru safari. It was so much fun. And much more frightening that anticipated. I was looking forward to the zebras and giraffes and so many other of God's creatures. We got there, got our cups of food to feed them and we were off. Windows rolled down, ready for adventure.

The kind ladies, in between oogling over Zoe, warned us of the camels. They would try to steal our cups when we fed them and might possibly block the road in order to get more food. Just honk they said and they should move.

When we entered the gates of the safari, we were swarmed by a welcoming committee of 10 alpaca. Windows up. At least mine anyways. They were sticking their heads inside the car to get the food, and growling and snorting at each other who tried to get in their way. Umm... wasn't this supposed to be fun?

I was not brave, but was laughing. What else was I supposed to do. It was pretty funny after all. The alpaca got out of our way, even though they ran with the car for a bit and we were on the road again. Going 5 miles per hour, but on the road again.

Well we were driving down the bumpy dirt road (wondering if our small rental car would make it) we approached some camels, who immediately came running towards us.

Kurt was excited to see if they indeed would steal the cup. They tried. Kurt held on tight. Not today camels.

We entered the next area, which was the filled with zebras and antelopes. I was feeling brave and wanted to feed a zebra. Because come on, it's a zebra! Do you know how you feed a zebra? I don't. The other animals we came across stuck their noses in the cups to get the food. So I assumed the zebra would do the same. HA! He opens his mouth and wants you to pour it in. Quite a scary scene when this is inches from your face.
Zoe did not like that at all. Because it was private property and we were moving at a snail's pace. Zoe sat on my lap. She liked to look at the animals. When that zebra opened its mouth and mommy started to freak out a little, Zoe lost it. She was a little tired and hungry, and let's face it I almost lost it.

We fed her as we drove along to the next area. Let me tell you, that was an experience.

Pretty soon, we had our happy camper back again. She sat with daddy and drove for a little while, and loved it. (We are stopped in this picture. Hands were on the wheel at all times.)
I was really excited to feed the giraffe. They were in a pen type thing and you could pull right up to the side so they could reach out. That was my favorite part. He just stuck his long tongue into the cup. The cup was pretty nasty after that stop.

There were lots of other animals that we saw. There were 2 rhinos.Lots of donkeys. At one point we had donkeys running on either side of the car. That was pretty fun.
Zoe liked these things. I am not really sure what they are, but their horns were awesome.



We even saw Bambi!

This is how Kurt fed the animals.


This is how I fed the animals. So brave I know. (I didn't feed all of them like that... just most of them)
There was also a walk-thru part of the park which had monkeys, reptiles, turtles and a porcupine. And of course we had to take a picture of our little monkey.
And of course, here is a little video to top it all off. (I guess you never really know how your voice sounds to other people. No wonder people think I am 12 on the phone.)

Happy Birthday honey! You are the best husband and father and I love you more every day!