Animals, Animals, Animals!

Yellow River Game Ranch
To catch up on our Georgia Adventures we'll begin with our trip to the game ranch. We went with some friends on dollar day and the kids had so much fun! We went again with some other friends on the next dollar day but I didn't get any pictures from that trip.
These deer had no fear! They came right out onto the path and were letting people hand feed them. Jaxon and Chesni were happy to stay behind the guide rail and watch them from a distance :)
The kids loved feeding these guys! They would eat and eat and eat! They especially loved the apple and orange slices we brought and the kids loved how they wiggled their noses until they found the food.
This peacock was kind enough to show us his plumage and strut around for a while. The kids thought he looked pretty cool! They were also excited to see so many Christmas trees lying around!
The Black Bears were a favorite! Partly because they are so big that they were still eating when we got to them. Jaxon was happy to discover that the bears like crackers just as much as he does! They would pick through all the veggies and eat the crackers out of the pile :)
Here are all the kids throwing leaves and sticks over a little ledge. This was seriously one of their favorite spots, we were here for a good 15 minutes. They also had buffalo, cougars, foxes, chickens, racoons, ducks, rabbits, etc. Jaxon was shocked at how long a buffalo's tongue is, and so were the rest of us! I'm sad I didn't get a picture but they would reach out with their tongue to grab food from people, and I don't think a giraffe has much advantage on the reach of a buffalo. Thanks for inviting us Emily and Hitomi, it was a blast both times!

Atlanta Zoo
I want to say it was in February that we met up with my sister, Dawnelle, and her daughters, Ellie and Amelia, at the Atlanta Zoo! It was so much fun and the kids again had a blast with their cousins!
These beautiful birds wouldn't come down to eat but I thought they were really pretty sitting up there!
We just about died laughing while watching this little guy. He started out holding onto his mommy's tummy and slipped down to her foot while mommy was walking around. Mommy didn't seem worried at all and just kept on going! So funny and the kids ate it up!
Petting zoo's are not my favorite, but the kids had fun brushing the goats. Of course, they only brushed the ones that looked like they were sleeping, the moving ones were a little too scary. And they had a well-stocked hand washing station right outside so I was happy!
They had a train! Jaxon asks to ride on a train at least weekly so he was very happy to get to ride one! Look at those cute cousins and their beautiful mommy/Aunt Dawnelle!
Ellie and Chesni trying out the birds nest :)
We also got to see flamingos, elephants, the panda bears with baby Po, which was very exciting considering how much we love Kung Fu Panda! There was a very impressive lion who was coughing/sneezing/snarling at us? We couldn't quite decide what he was doing but the kids thought he was pretty cool/scary. There was too much to do in a day but we hope to go back soon so we can show Daddy all our favorite animals and see the ones we missed. Thanks for going with us Dawnelle!