Reunited

As always one of the best parts of going on a trip is coming back home to our babies.  

The morning after getting back from OBX Davis was up early ready to hang out with Momma and Daddy..we coulda used a little more shut eye..haha

Once we all got awake and moving we took the kids to the zoo park before heading home.  The zoo has some pretty cool things to do besides seeing the animals and with an annual pass, it's okay just to go play for a while without having to pay an entrance fee. 

playing in the stream

taking a walk on the swinging bridge

the mud cafe is awesome....dirty...but awesome!  just bring some extra clothes if you plan on doing this. 

 and who doesn't love HUGE BUBBLES?

First Zoo Trip of the Year

a few days before Mike came home we went with some friends to the zoo and took advantage of the beautiful spring weather.  

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3 mommies, 5 kiddos, 1 toddler, 1 infant and a Pop Pop 

it was a really fun day!

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the bigger kids were much more interested this time around in climbing the rocks and playing with all the special activities and hands/on exhibits than they were in the animals

 but of course you gotta stop and watch the lions 

 Davis loved the animals though! OO OO EE EE :)

 Pop Pop hung back with Davis and made sure he was able to see everything.  They are best buddies :)

 rhino rides

 The zoo had just opened it's new bug exhibit and everyone was excited to see some HUGE BUGS!

 well everyone but this princess...she wasn't too into the big bugs...reminded me a lot of taking her to see the dinosaur exhibit 2 years ago. 

 The Bug Man...

 grasshopper faces

 and everyone's favorite part was the dung balls!

 we always gotta ride the carousel 

 The new play area is also open now and we thought it was great!  The kids had a blast playing in the water.  This will be perfect as it gets hotter this summer.

 brody's bfast shirt got lots of attention.  

 water painting

 and of course the seals are always fun to watch too!

Aloha Zoo

a little ironic that we leave Hawaii to come to Fayetteville, just to live 20 minutes from the Aloha Zoo...

not that we saw much "aloha" there. 

The Aloha Zoo is a small little zoo owned by a local man.  Apparently many of the animals are rescued from abusive homes or neglect.  They also have a miniature horse business.  My honest opinion is this.  There are some good opportunites to get close and feed some interesting animals.  Their habitats are a bit sparse and sad looking, there were a lot of flies around...and i mean A LOT and there were maggots in the horse feed buckets.  Maybe we hit them up on a bad day...but either way--Mike and I left a little disenchanted.  

As far as the kids though...they loved it--especially getting to feed all the animals. The goats were their favorites..haha. 

 checking out the sleeping white tiger

 My favorite part was the giraffe--his name is Stretch. 

 There was also a "safari ride" If we were to go back again, i'd skip this part. Although the camels were kinda cool.  Apparently the camels come from churches who buy them for nativities and then don't want them anymore. Supposedly it's cheaper to buy a new one than care for it all year..that's crazy, right? 

Boo at the Zoo

Well not really like you A-towners are thinking...but we did go to the zoo on Halloween. For a hot second, I thought about dressing the kids up for the zoo trip--ya know, the thought of a little Pebbles and Bam Bam with all those animals really was appealing, but then i remembered we live in Hawaii and it's hot here and i thought better of the whole idea. So summer-wear and sunscreen to the zoo it was.

Norabird watching the monkeys Llamas

fish tank tunnel

nora didn't like the tunnel, so she watched from the outside

Jack is a master milker...runs in his blood i guess

Holden is checking out the real cow

petting the goats is always a blast

way too excited

The Keiki Playground

a peacock came to visit