• Travel & Vacation: Cute Panda Bears and Wildlife Show at the Atlanta Zoo (Atlanta, GA)

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    Panda Bear content to relax and eat bamboo

    The panda bears were one of the girls favorite animals to visit at the Atlanta Zoo.  I think the big fascination was watching the twin panda cubs.  It was a little harder to get a picture of both of them at the same time, but the kids loved watching them eat and play.  The Wildlife Show on birds was pretty neat too.  Of course the girls went up after the show to ask more questions about the birds.  The zoo worker was really great with the kids and patient in answering all the questions.  On the way out the girls wanted a picture with the gorilla.  It was a great day at the zoo.

    You can read more about our adventure at the Atlanta Zoo on my Travel & Vacation: Visiting the Atlanta Zoo (Atlanta, GA)Travel & Vacation: Lions, Tigers, Seals, Reptiles, Bears, and more at the Atlanta Zoo (Atlanta, GA), and Travel & Vacation: Orangutan Easter Egg Hunt at Atlanta Zoo (Atlanta, GA)  blog posts.

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    Looking pretty cute!

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    Look out, showing some teeth this time. Watch out!  They may look cute and adorable, but I think it would  not be a good idea to pet them with teeth that size.

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    Someone found an Easter pinata

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    Loving the bamboo

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    Peeling the bamboo stick apart, eating some pieces, and putting the other pieces on his belly for later.

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    Crunchy, but delicious

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    Good stuff

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    Panada’s look so cute

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    Checking things out around the pen

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    Heading towards some more goodies

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    Twin panda’s in their cage.  One sleeping on the log and the other one eating some bamboo

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    Relaxing and chewing on some bamboo

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     Bird Show in the Wildlife Theater at the Atlanta Zoo

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    Getting all their questions answered

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    Brina giving Willie B a hug

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    Karlie and Brina enjoyed the Atlanta Zoo

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    Karlie all smiles

  • Travel & Vacation: Orangutan Easter Egg Hunt at Atlanta Zoo (Atlanta, GA)

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    He’s eying that cool looking pinata egg with sweet Easter treats inside it!

    Another one of the neat events at the Atlanta Zoo was the Easter treats for the animals.  We were able to get front row viewing at the Orangutan Easter egg hunt.  It was super cute.  There was a Mommy with a little one which the girls thought was adorable.

    The Easter Eggs were made of jello and placed throughout the pen, pinata eggs full of special treats, leaf baskets with goodies, and cardboard cutouts with peanut like substance on the back for the orangutans to enjoy.  They had a lot of fun finding and snacking on their treats.  Even the baby found some.  They had paper garland hanging up which the orangutans enjoyed moving and playing with as well.

    You can read more about our adventure at the Atlanta Zoo on my Travel & Vacation: Visiting the Atlanta Zoo (Atlanta, GA) and Travel & Vacation: Lions, Tigers, Seals, Reptiles, Bears, and more at the Atlanta Zoo (Atlanta, GA) blog posts.

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    An edible Easter egg in the tree and one on the rock in the background….waiting to be found!

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    Swinging out to get the Easter garland

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    Oh yeah, this eggs mine!

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    Climbed up on top of the platform for this pinata treat

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    Enjoying the goodies inside the pinata Easter egg

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    Holding the cardboard cutout of the bunny rabbit and licking the treat off the back of it

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    Hanging out near the hammock picking up and eating eggs, delicious!

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    Look closely, he’s got a green jello egg in his mouth

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    Momma and baby

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    Sitting in the shade – Mom and Baby (the baby is not really little, but obviously still under its Mother’s care)

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    Mom and baby kisses

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    Licking the goodness off the back of the cardboard Easter egg decoration

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    Mom and baby looking for some more treats

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    The baby wasn’t too sure about everything at first so it stuck near its Mom at the beginning of the Easter Egg Hunt

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    The baby is getting brave.  He is climbing the pole to get the Easter basket, with a little Chick, and goodies.

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    Made it, now to grab it and head back down.

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    The Mom watched the baby climb, get the treats, and bring them back down.  Then she took the items from the baby and ate them herself, ha!   The baby did get some treats, but Momma Orangutan got the first dibs!

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    Rearranging the Easter Garland in their pen.

  • Travel & Vacation: Lions, Tigers, Seals, Reptiles, Bears, and more at the Atlanta Zoo (Atlanta, GA)

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     Lioness pacing on her rock

    We had a blast seeing all the animals on our recent trip to the Atlanta Zoo.  We arrived just as the Zoo opened in the morning and stayed until closing.  The kids loved seeing all the animals, the activities, and special events.  It was a busy, packed, and fun day together.  We walked all over the area of the zoo several times over.  The morning was a little cooler, but it was very comfortable by mid-morning (not too cold or hot).  You can read more about our adventure on my Travel & Vacation: Visiting the Atlanta Zoo (Atlanta, GA) blog post.  

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     The two lionesses were playing and pouncing on each other while we were there.  They were so fast we weren’t able to get a non-blurry picture of both of them together.  It was neat to watch them playing around instead of just sleeping on their rock.

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     Better watch out….

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     Tiger giving himself a bath.

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     Out for a stroll

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     The seal was catching the fish they were throwing at them.  You can see the fish right in front of him.

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     Karlie and Brina learning about snakes.

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     Karlie having fun

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     Learning more about this little turtle

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    Curled up and watching people as they go by his cage

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     Brina fascinated by all the animals

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    What’s in this one!?

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     Karlie and Mommy having fun at the Atlanta Zoo

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     Me and my girls!  They are growing up so fast.  Thankful for these little adventures together as a family!

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    Brina was always good a spotting the animals really quickly, not sure how she does it so fast!

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     The snake was following the heat from Karlie’s hand

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     Jake and his girls at the Atlanta Zoo

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     Jake is always so good about explaining and showing the girls different pieces of information about the animals.  The snake is acting like it might try to strike Jake’s hand through the glass in this picture, but it never did.

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     The bear brought this branch with leaves on top of the platform so he could eat it by himself without the other one bothering him.

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    Fun times!

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    They loved learning about all the different wildlife.

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    Love my family!  Grateful for the opportunity to hang out at the Atlanta Zoo for the day!

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    Such a rough life…. They look so cute and cuddly.

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    This is a “Tanuki” it is very timid and doesn’t come out very often per one of the zoo workers that we asked.  We walked by its cage multiple times and never saw it out until almost the end of the day.  It gets spooked easy so it is not visible very often.

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    How does your Mom carry you!?  Silly girls – Brina and Karlie

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    Karlie loves brushing the farm animals. She is currently on her way to brush another one.

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    Brina talking with the zoo worker about goats and asking questions.  He was really nice and pointed out several different types of goats and characteristics of the ones near her.

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    Brina and Karlie brushing one goat.  Lots of TLC for this Mamma goat.  They always love the interactive animal adventures.

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    The giraffe is eying us while the ostrich was too busy eating to give us any attention

  • Travel & Vacation: Visiting the Atlanta Zoo (Atlanta, GA)

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     Our family at the Atlanta Zoo!

    We surprised the girls with a long weekend trip to Atlanta, Georgia over Easter weekend.  They were very excited to go explore the Atlanta area.  We are members of our local zoo so we were able to get into the Atlanta Zoo at a discount which was really nice.  The kids love animals, learning more about various ones, interacting, and so much more.

    Since it was Easter weekend at the Atlanta Zoo the animals were getting special treats to enjoy for the Holiday.  The new Amphibian & Reptile Exhibit also opened the weekend we were there as well.  There were a lot of people at the zoo, but it was so big we had plenty of time do see and do almost everything (some things the kids enjoyed it so much we did it again).

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    Pink Flamingos were hanging out peacefully near the entrance to the zoo

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    So excited….Karlie and Brina!  They have their maps out and are ready to GO!

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     The birds were sleeping peacefully all together on one branch.

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     It was a little chilly when we first got there in the shade at opening, but no one was complaining!

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     Birds of all colors

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    Brina soaking it all in.  She loves animals.

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     Playing around in the water puddles.

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     Karlie smiling as she quietly watches the birds and little kids.

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     Meerkat’s roaming around in their pen.

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     There is always one Meerkat on watch (or guard) for predators

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     They gave the Meerkats a pillow case stuffed full of hay, little bugs, and special treats.  They were a little timid about it at first, but before long they were all taking turns going into the pillow case and digging out their special treats.

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     Are you done yet!  Hurry up and get your bug so I can get my turn inside the Easter treat sack!!!

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     They look cute, but serious.  Look at those claws on this meerkat!  Yikes!

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    Rhino heading out into the sun after getting some sticky mud on itself to protect it from a sunburn.

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     This rhino was moving the stick around and chewing on it.  Must of had something tasty on it.

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     They drew flowers, easter eggs, and bunny rabbits with chalk on the rocks in the Zebra’s pen.

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     The warthogs got hard boiled and colored Easter eggs for their special treat.  They both found the first one about the same time.

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     Someone found the purple Easter egg!

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    The elephants had Easter eggs that had a jello consistency that they place in baskets made of leaves.   This elephant just discovered the basket of leaves and is moving it out of the way so she can eat her jello Easter egg.

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     Whole lot of elephants!  They had a huge pen and sometimes if you couldn’t see them on one side you had to go around to see them in a different section.

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     Jake and his girls exploring the Atlanta Zoo

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     Beautiful bird

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     Brina found Big Bird’s Nest!!! HA!

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     My two little chickies in the huge nest!

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    Karlie thought the nest was hilarious!

  • Easter Celebrations

    It has been a super busy 2012 with all the traveling and activities.  I am thankful for the opportunity to spend time with family and friends, but I have been a little behind with my blog updates.  Easter week we spent part of our time in Charleston since it was the girls Spring Break and the other part in Greenville.  Here are a few highlights from our 2012 Easter Celebrations:

    Easter Eggs being dropped by a Hot Air Balloon at Rock Springs.  It was fascinating to watch all the eggs falling from the Hot Air Balloon.

    We were in Charleston the week of Easter so we went to an Easter story time at the small “village” library in Mount Pleasant.   It was a cute little library and the people were super sweet.  The girls loved listening to the librarian read Easter stories!

    Our neighbors brought over these super cute Easter goodies for the girls when we got back from Charleston.  It was a little toy and candy combination which was a huge hit with the girls.  It had a bunny rabbit on a bicycle carrying an egg full of jellybeans. Thankful for our neighbors, it was a thoughtful gift.   The expressions on Karlie and Brina’s faces in this picture crack me up!

    Easter basket goodies!  Some fun socks, games, candy, and goodies to celebrate the Holiday.

    Trail of Easter Eggs from their bedroom door through the kitchen all the way to the table.  The girls were so excited to discover them that morning.  You know your kids are getting older when they “ask permission”  before picking up and opening the trail of Easter eggs.

    Neat craft the girls did in Sunday School.  They took a bowl added some dirt, used a twisty tie and sticks to make a cross, a rock, and half an Easter egg.  They planted grass seeds in the dirt too.  It was a wonderful Easter craft for the kids!  Both girls could explain the significance of the cross, tomb (egg), and the rock.  The girls loved this activity and I give whoever came up with this idea a double thumbs up!

    Karlie on focused on hunting Easter eggs

    Brina found a blue egg hidden in the grass

    The extra special “car” eggs had a surprise in them…..loose change!

    We had fun coloring eggs together as a family on Easter Sunday, here’s one carton full of eggs we did.  Thankful for a time to relax and enjoy some time with the family while celebrating the Easter Holiday.