Out of Africa

We've had some challenges with our house. Issues with the seller and his payoff on the house, so we haven't gotten our keys even though we did our closing a week and a half ago. Right now we're hopeful that he will be able to complete his end of things by Thursday and we will be able to move in on the 18th as scheduled.

Now, on to much happier things! Today we took an impromptu trip to Out of Africa, a local wildlife park. We asked Reagan what she wanted to do this morning, expecting she would say swimming, or feed the ducks, like she was telling us she had planned for Daddy's next day home, but she has just seen an Elmo's World about animals and told us that she wanted to go to the zoo and see lions and zebras. We have a local zoo, but it is an animal sanctuary, and most of the animals they have are native to this area. They have a tiger, a bear and some lemurs, but none of the African animals that kids seem to expect at zoos. Reagan loves going to our zoo, but has been watching a Curious George episode about the zoo over and over, so she's started to ask about the other animals that our zoo doesn't have. She was quite insistent, so we decided we'd make the drive out to the wildlife park for the day. And boy, was it was an amazing trip.

We got to see lots of big cats. The park had so many tigers I lost count! There were also many lions (8 I think). A pair of hyenas, grizzly cubs, black bears, white tigers, zebra, giraffe, antelope, African sheep, and a rhino... I'm sure I'm forgetting many! First we visited the aviary while we waited for a tram, which we then rode up to an area where they have presentations and food and such. We visited a bunch of animals and then saw a "show" called Tiger Splash. It's really cool because they bring in 2 tigers and just play with them. Pretty much how you would play with a house cat. There's a big pool and the tigers play in there as part of it. It's great that they just do what's natural for the cats, and don't train them to do tricks. After Tiger Splash we let Reagan play at their playground for a little and get some ice cream before watching a presentation about reptiles. We then followed about half of the Predator Feed riding on the tram. You follow along for feeding time and get to see pretty much all of the predators fed. It was really cool. They have a male lion who is almost 23 years old and has to e hand fed through the fence by a zoo keeper. It's amazing how much longer the expected lifespan is for these animals in captivity. It was also so encouraging to see how much space these animals have and how natural of a lifestyle they are able to lead. (Most are resuces or were born in captivity.) Then we went on the Serengeti Safari. They drive you through an enclosure with hoofed grazing animals, and it's like being on safari. It was very cool. We even stopped at one part where they allow you to feed a giraffe. Reagan LOVED that. At one point our guide was talking about where a particular animal was from and Reagan piped up and said the name of the place as well. Everyone on our tour laughed, and the guide (who was a South African immigrant) was quite impressed that she said "Kalahari" so clearly. We all had a great time, Adam included!!!! Reagan and Adam both got animals at the gift shop. Reagan picked a ring tailed lemur which she has named Little Leaper after a ring tailed lemur on Zoboomofoo (an animal show for kids, and one of her favorites!), and Adam got a white tiger (Reagan got a stuffed tiger on her first zoo visit too. :-)) anyway, this has all gotten very long winded... but it was a very exciting and fun day for us all!!


First: Waiting for Tiger Splash to begin
Second: Reagan feeding the giraffe