Feed the Animals

Michael came up with the clever title of this post. You know how you normally see signs at zoos that say "Do Not Feed the Animals"? Well, we went to an exotic zoo this past weekend where we got to feed the animals safari-style!

Tina and Kobe came with us and we had so much fun!!!

Before Sweet Pea was born, Tina and I would take trips to Fredericksburg to just wander around all the shops downtown and, of course, stop in at the Old German Bakery for some "Fredericksburgers" and Texas-sized onion rings!

It's been quite some time since we had gone so we all planned to make a trip out there and on the way stop off at The Exotic Resort Zoo in Johnson City. The billboard for the zoo always caught my eye every time we drove through Johnson City so this time when we were talking about going to Fredericksburg, I suggested us stopping off at the zoo as well. As soon as Michael caught wind of us also going to the zoo, he immediately wanted to tag along. I'm really glad that he did too because he had a lot of fun and also took a lot of great pictures.

***WARNING: Picture Overload***



The Exotic Resort Zoo




feeding one of the llamas




this Scottish Highland cow was one of my favorites - SO cute!!!




feeding a reindeer (at least I'm pretty sure it's a reindeer)




the ONLY pic with Michael in it - all these other pics were taken with his camera




up close and personal!




this was early-on in the tour - I squealed after the Scottie licked my hand while getting his food and from then on Sweet Pea was squealing at all the animals!




Sweet Pea having a blast!




Tatanka!!! (buffalo)




"Oooooooh!"




Sweet Pea started getting into the bucket of feed because she wanted to feed the animals too.




we had to hold the bucket out for the fowl (ostrich, emu, etc.) to feed since they have hard beaks




our first fowl customer!




Sweet Pea said "I do it!" and grabbed the bucket from me




this is an ostrich, right? (there were so many different animals that I lost track of which ones were which)




the ride was bumpy (as you can imagine being out there with no real roads) so I had my hand on Sweet Pea the entire ride




Sweet Pea got a kick out of Aunt Tina getting grossed out by feeding the slobbery Scottie




look at the look on Aunt Tina's face!




she would motion to an animal and say 'mere! and was delighted when this one came up to her (the deer wasn't though when it found out she didn't have any feed in her hands!)




the camels were so sweet and huggable




Sweet Pea patting the camel




Aunt Tina feeding the Scottie some more, much to Sweet Pea's amusement




the fowl return




one of the camels




trying to get some more feed (we started rationing because Sweet Pea was going a little willy-nilly with feeding the animals)




the camel wasn't pleased that we were paying attention and feeding the Scottie so he bit him on his rump to get him to run away - it worked too




us and the huggable camel




zebras (or as Sweet Pea calls them...Bebwas!!!)




Sweet Pea and Kobe hopped on the swing as we were walking over to the Petting Zoo




a ring-tailed lemur... sunbathing, maybe?




those mama goats kept rubbing my legs and Sweet Pea wasn't too keen on that




Sweet Pea loved the baby goats


We ended up leaving the zoo around 5pm because we still had to head over to Fredericksburg to get our Fredericksburgers and onion rings. The entire drive there we were talking about how long it's been since we've had the burgers and onion rings dipped in their yummy honey mustard and how great it was going to taste. Imagine our upset when we get there and they are CLOSED!!! To add insult to injury, they don't even have their hours posted so we have no clue what time they really do close. We're guessing they're only open for breakfast and lunch though. Oh well, there's always next time!

We were hungry and Michael was getting cranky as a result so Tina, Kobe, Sweet Pea (in her stroller) and I started walking into the heart of downtown since getting Sweet Pea strapped back into her car seat would just take more time and walking sounded good to me anyways. Michael hopped back into the truck so he could park closer into town. The Old German Bakery was right at the end of town, a good 2 blocks away from all the other fun-to-visit shops.

We found another restaurant that I'd never been in before... well, to be honest, I've never been in any other restaurants there except the Old German Bakery because it's just that good! The food was so-so. I had a burger but the bun was a sweet bread so it was throwing me off. It's a good thing I didn't finish it off because on the way back to the truck there was another Ice Cream Parlor (the Fudge and Ice Cream Shoppe had already closed). I had a chocolate-dipped waffle cone with thin mints ice cream and it was SOOOOOOO good!

Outside the store there was one of those mechanical horsies that you put 50 cents in and it goes. Sweet Pea saw it and immediately wanted to ride the horsie, so Aunt Tina got change from the store and Sweet Pea got to ride her horsie.



Giddyup!




she got a banana smoothie from the ice cream place




Kobe hopped on too - we were laughing because Tina joked about how that couldn't be too comfy on the "boys"


After we finished up our ice cream it was about 7pm and we were all pooped and ready to head back home. Sweet Pea and Kobe crashed soon after we got into the truck.



they're both out like a light!