The Safari - Family Fun Day!

Big A is taking a couple days off work, so it's time for some Family Fun!  My kidlets are VERY spirited and vocal this week {aka not napping, grumpy and Little A has a cold - they are not shy in showing us how they feel}. I'm SO happy for the help and the distractions, let me tell ya!

Today we ventured to a local safari game reserve.  It was EZ's {and Little A's for that matter} first time seeing animals up close and personal!  

You can drive through the reserve in your own vehicle, but frankly we didn't want to explain to the mechanic that a monkey had ripped through the sunroof of the Baby Benz. We opted for the air conditioned and guided bus tour.

We started out all happy, but you've got to see the photos of how it ended {they are at the bottom of the post!}.

Despite her cold, Little A was happy all tucked in with dada, and EZ's foot...

Prior to the safari adventure, sustenance of a funnel cake was needed. One must always stop at a place called "Funnel Cake Factory" -- it's the law. And we're law-abiding people. Don't worry, we didn't eat the WHOLE thing!

Just as we were lining up to get on the bus, the elephants walked by us to go for their daily swim. EZ was THRILLED -- he LOVES elephants!

On the bus, brimming with anticipation! Oh! and a RARE photo of me. Big A says my shades are Elton John-esque. I think they are fab, and if looking like a gay man from the 1970s is wrong, I don't want to be right. And they match my cars and that's not a coincidence - yep, I'm vain like that.

And the animal-watching begins...EZ was so adorable! Everyone on the bus thought he was so cute {and no, we weren't the only people on the bus!}.

If you squint and tilt your head to the left, you will notice EZ's mouth is gaping open. You also notice that he is seeing "ROARS!" (EZ-speak for lions} for the 1st time.

Unfortunately because I'm a bad photographer my camera is slow, I wasn't able to capture the full-freaking-out mode EZ was in when we were in the lion reserve. So this is all I got!

After several photos mamarazzi-style, EZ was annoyed at me and literally took the camera out of my hand, and gave it to Big A, who them promptly snapped a photo of his grumpy and annoyed face. Parenting win - we've gotta show these kids who's boss! Haha!

One of EZ's favourite animals was the "babababooms". When I went to this place as a kid, I remember seeing the baboons jump onto people's cars. Today the baboons were reserved, and mostly napping in the shade.

These baboons were CLOSE to the bus. EZ was just so amazed.

Yes, THIS is why we didn't bring the Baby Benz through the reserve. We didn't want an ostrich tapping its beak on our windows. We watched this for almost 5 minutes. Apparently the ostrich saw itself in the reflection of the glass and thought it was another ostrich. In a related story, did you know that ostrich's brains are smaller than one of their eye balls? Fun fact from the farm {I say farm because that's what EZ called it. 'Cuz that's where animals live, dontchayaknow!}

The giraffes...this is where our camera battery was dying. EZ then wore out all the juice by taking photos which we realized later were about 75 photos of the sky and the grass. He's got a good eye for photography, that one!

The fam got close to a peacock. Beautiful creatures up close, but I still have vivid memories of the awful sound a peacock makes when I was at the kibbutz in Israel. That thing started squawking at 4am -- and when you had to get up at 4:30am, it was REALLY annoying. I still get shivers when I hear it!

I missed the elephant show because Little A was sleeping in the stroller and trust me, we didn't want to wake up Grumperella.  The boys said that the elephant show was awesome though!

To top off the day, EZ and his dad went on an elephant ride!

EZ was surprisingly zen about the whole thing. I thought he'd be freaked out or overexcited. But he was all, "Riding on an elephant?! No biggie. I do this everyday!"

I'm putting this photo in because I told Big A that he has to take us to Florida to see more flamingos -- this is me using the Secret to make it happen!

EZ also loved watching the elephants eat lunch. This elephant looked like EZ eating lunch -- getting it on his head, on his hair, and all over the general vicinity -- everywhere BUT his mouth. I think he liked the elephants the most -- he could relate.

So this is the mood the kidlets were in when we left. Overtired, overheated, overstimulated. He eventually calmed down when we strapped him in the carseat in the air conditioned car and fed him pizza.  When I asked him what he liked most about the zoo, he corrected me that it was a farm and he liked the cows, of course. Then he asked to go to his babysitter's house. Go figure.

Poor Little A was a wee bit under the weather, and she was a trooper being schlepped around the park in the heat today. But when her big brother started melting down, so did she. Don't worry she was fine within minutes and happily napped the whole way home :)