Some time in May, I bought a Groupon for half off an adult ticket at the African Safari (only to find out later that I could have gotten half off with our zoo membership anyway - oh well) and Casey and I made plans to take the three girls to visit. (Will got to go last year when Aunt Kelly invited us, so this time it was Sophie's turn.) Mom came along too and we had a really great time.
Casey and I drove separately and then (since I had removed Will's car seat) everyone piled into my Jeep for the drive through the park. What a novelty to be able to climb around and change seating, sans car seats!
Totally unplanned, the three girlies wore stripes and pigtails. :)
I drove. Casey sat in the front passenger seat with one child on her lap. Mom sat behind me with the other two girls floating between seats. Sophie's car seat was actually a nice view because the girls could sit up higher. But typically the other two were in a lap.
Love this one.
Sophie would get her face right up in the window until an animal came close and then she'd sit back and cover her face with a tiny book that we keep in the car. I was controlling the windows for the most part so we only had her window down when there weren't animals nearby.
Just a few miles from the safari park, our friends the Garmans were camping for the weekend. So when they heard of our plans, they came over to meet us and spend the morning with us at the park. This is their SUV ahead of us in several pictures.
Awwww!!! A baby deer! So cute!
Feeding the giraffe through the sun roof. :)
The girls stood up on the center counsel to feed the giraffe.
Go-go-gadget tongue!
Zebras!
Another favorite pic.
After our drive through the larger animal part of the park, we got out to walk through the rest of the smaller animals part. Here the kids were watching the monkeys swing on the jungle gym and checking out the ducks in the pond. Those are two of the Garman boys beside Sophie and Stella.
Kris Garman (center) is the guy who helped us at the PD shooting range a couple weeks earlier. He and his wife Kelly have such a cute, fun family with FOUR kids ages four and under! :)
Our group of kids! Sophie, Stella and Mya... and Jax, Brody and Emerson Garman. (Not pictured: Jayce Garman in the stroller nearby.) :-)
There was a small stage with seating for shows that was completely empty. Sophie and Stella decided to put on their own show by singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Haha!
In a small playground area, the kids played on swings, a slide and a couple climbing toys.
The park was also offering free camel rides this day! It wasn't available when I was here before with Will, but what a cool opportunity! Mya & Stella went first.
And then Sophie rode with Brody. So fun!
Another cute little baby.
Our trip to the park was followed up by lots of hand sanitizer and wipes, and a light lunch/snack in the back of my Jeep.
Such a fun morning!
Also this weekend, we attended my cousin Bethany's graduation party on Saturday afternoon and another baptism for Craig's 2nd cousin's daughter on Sunday morning. (No pictures for either event.)
Busy, busy summer weekends!!!
