Sunday, October 24, 2010

Where the Wild Things Are

Our trip down to Pine Mountain wouldn't have been complete without a visit to Wild Animal Safari. This was SO much fun! It far exceeded my expectations and Natalie loved it too! She thought the animals were hilarious....which was good because if she had been scared of them, we would have been in for a looooong drive around the park.

You have the option of riding in complementary shuttle, renting one of their vans, or driving your own car. We had just missed a shuttle when we got there, and the next one wasn't leaving for another two hours. The van rental was relatively inexpensive (less than $20, I think), but I figured I would just save some money and drive my own car. Here's a tip for you: ride the shuttle or shell out the money to rent a van. Allen finally got tired of looking at all of the dried animal slobber and mud on my car and washed it for me last weekend. And the animal drool isn't limited to the outside of your car. I had to Windex the insides of my windows as well. Oh yeah, and a zebra tried to take a bite out of my door frame. That's not something I can say every day.

I won't bother continuing to blabber on about the park. Instead, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. This is a small, small sample of the pictures I took.

These zebras greeted us as we entered the gate. Natalie had a good laugh at these guys.


This picture gives you a better idea of what it was like driving through the park. You can see a zebra-striped van ahead of us (that we should have rented.)


Oh neat! Here comes a Highland Cow!!


You see that slimy thing to the left of Meega's hand. Yes, that's its tongue dangling over the window.


You'll need to click on this image to zoom in and fully appreciate the nastiness left on the window.


I'm not sure what kind of cow-like animal this is, but it's coming straight for us.


And now this mystery animal is sticking its muddy nose in my face.


Somebody has a case of the Mondays.


This elk kept calling. It's really amazing to hear it in person.


Don't worry, he was fenced in. I think the Jetta would have lost that battle.


A pair of alpaca.


Ummm, somebody should tell Mr. Deer here that it's rude to stare?


A fallow deer chillaxin in the shade.


Mommy pig and....


...baby pigs! I think we spent the most time looking at these little babies. They ran around and played like puppies! So cute!!


Not sure what this animal was either, but it had interesting markings inside its ears.


The llama is eying Natalie's water. Time to roll up the window!


If only I could have those lashes....but I'll pass on the whiskers.


This dude looked pretty tough with part of his antler missing.


Apparently the ostriches are nippers. Have you ever heard what happened to Johnny Cash?


A sheep was one of the few animals Natalie would touch. Smart girl.


Wow, cool! Look at those two giraffes!!


Hey, I think this one is coming closer!


Is it seriously going to bend its neck all the way down here?


That's affirmative, Ghost Rider. We have made contact.


This is a guar. Or a big, scary bull on steroids.


Aaaaaaand, now it's time to move the car because it's coming towards us.


And then Natalie and Meega got out of the car to pet the guar. Just kidding. This is us entering the walk-through portion of the park.


And I'm tired of writing captions. So enjoy the rest of these pics caption-free!




A Weekend with Meega at Callaway Gardens

This year, La Leche League of Georgia held their annual breastfeeding and parenting conference at the beautiful Callaway Gardens Resort in Pine Mountain, GA. I asked Allen's mom (known to the grandkids as Meega) if she would like to join me and Natalie for the weekend. I figured she would enjoy spending some one-on-one time with Natalie as well as the familiar setting of a LLL conference. She attended plenty when she was a LLL leader for many years. And then of course it was nice for me to be able to enjoy the conference sessions without having to chase a busy toddler around! This year's keynote speaker was Sharifa Oppenheimer, an author and Waldorf educator. It was fascinating listening to her speak about child brain development and what we as parents can do to create home environments that promote the fullest whole-brain development.

Before the conference started on Friday, we had a few hours to explore some of Callaway's attractions. We took a stroll through the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center and then through Mr. Cason's Vegetable Garden. It was a wonderful weekend and, Meega, I appreciate your company and help!!

Meega and Natalie at the entrance to the vegetable garden.


Checking out all the interesting veggies.


Why can't my yard look like this?


Or this?


Feeding the koi in the butterfly center.


Butterflies everywhere!


Hungry little buggers. You can see them drinking the juice from the orange slices with their proboscis. (Yes, I had to look that up. I was going to call it the feeding tube thingy.)


This butterfly landed on my shoulder.


Cocoons and newly hatched butterflies on display.

A Visit to the Chattahoochee Nature Center

My Aunt Betty forwarded me an email from the Chattahoochee Nature Center about an Infant Walk that they do several times a year. Natalie really loves to be outside these days, so I thought it would be fun. It is beautiful over there! Now I'm wondering how it's possible that I've lived in the Atlanta area for 13 years and never been there before! We enjoyed the guided walk and then strolled through the gardens, checking out flowers and butterflies.

Let's go!! So much to see and so little time!


Pretty mystery plant #1.


Pretty mystery plant #2.


Pretty lilypads. No frogs though, boooo.


Jewelweed aka Touch-me-nots. We learned 2 very cool things about this plant on our walk: 1 - it has skin-healing properties and can be used for poison ivy and other rashes. And 2 - If you barely touch or squeeze the little seed pods that you see, they pop open. I got much more of a kick out of this than Natalie.


One of many butterflies in the flower garden.

PDK Park

Living near the Peachtree-Dekalb Airport, we see our fair share of aircraft, from big to small. Natalie has recently taken an interest in the planes and helicopters. We point them out as they fly over, trying to spot them through the trees. Now she also points to the sky whenever she hears one. She's right about 90% of the time. The other 10% includes neighbors using leaf blowers and chainsaws.

A friend of ours mentioned that there is a playground at the airport, so one cloudy afternoon the three of us decided to check it out. It is literally right next to the runways and is a great vantage point for watching all the different types of aircraft take off and land. Natalie got a big kick out of seeing the planes up close. There isn't really any shade, so I wouldn't recommend going during the dog days of summer, but now that cooler weather has arrived, we'll definitely be returning.

Allen holds Natalie up so that she can see better and wave to the plane. You can't really tell from the pic, but the one on the right is heading towards the runway to take off.


A MetLife blimp. Sadly it stayed put while we were there. That would have been cool to see.


A family portrait - - too bad Natalie wasn't smiling. We are standing on a small stadium next to the playground that was built just for watching the planes.


Wow, there goes another plane!


Love this kid, crazy hair and all.