Jacksonville Zoo (Again)

Like most other states, Georgia is struggling with budgeting issues. Because of the lack of available funds, the state has had to furlough its teachers six days this school year. I had three of my furlough days before Christmas, and I will have three more after Christmas. Today was the first of my after Christmas furlough days. Brian and I let the fact that I was off become a good excuse for taking the kids to the Jacksonville Zoo (again). We have been to the zoo every year for the past three years, but we like it so much that we keep going back. Even though we've been several times, it always seems different because the kids' ages and interests change so much year-to-year. Some things, however, do stay the same. For example, Olivia always likes looking at the animals, and this year was no exception. For Owen- this was the first trip where he seemed even remotely interested in the animals- so he was excited to see them (and we were excited to watch Owen watching the animals). I'm always interested to see which animals are going to get the biggest reactions from my kids. The favorites for this trip were the elephant, the giraffe, and surprisingly- the anteater.

One thing that I really appreciate about the Jacksonville Zoo is that they are really trying to make the zoo better. The newer South America and Asia sections that they have added are actually quite nice. They have also added gardens and cool animal statues all over the park. The kids really liked the statues and didn't miss a chance to climb all over them.

Another newer part of the zoo was a rather large play area for the kids. Before leaving, we took Olivia and Owen to this play park so that they would wear themselves out for the trip home. The kids had fun climbing on the play-structure, going down the slide, and getting lost in the hedge maze. They also got to pet the goats in the petting zoo. Olivia made it her personal mission to pet every single goat- and I think that she was successful. After about thirty minutes of hard play, we left the zoo. Our plan to tire the kids out worked because they were asleep within ten minutes of being in the car. Overall it was a pleasant afternoon. So pleasant, in fact, that it made me not mind having to take a furlough day so much.

Atlanta Field Trip

I love my job, and I was reminded of this fact last week when I chaperoned a school trip to Atlanta. Me and a few of my favorite co-workers were placed in charge of a very well behaved group of kids. The kids were so good, in fact, that us chaperones were able to kick back and actually enjoy the trip ourselves. The day began at 6am when we left Waycross and traveled to Atlanta via charter bus. Our first stop was one of my favorite places in Atlanta- the Georgia Aquarium. Once again, I spent the most time at the Ocean Voyager tank. It is so big that you start to feel like you really are in the ocean. My co-workers and I visited all the exhibits and we were even brave enough to touch all of the animals in the touch tanks- including anemones, sharks, rays, and starfish.

We left the aquarium at 1 o'clock, got a bite to eat, and went to the Capitol Building. Inside the building we met up with state senator Goggins, and then took a guided tour of the building. We got to see the rooms where the Georgia Senate and House meet. I had never been to the Capitol Building, so I was really interested. Most of the students were bored. I guess this is one of those things that becomes more interesting to a person when they're older.

Our last stop of the day was the Cyclorama. I had never been here and I honestly thought that it was going to be lame. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. The Cyclorama building houses the largest oil painting in the world called "The Battle of Atlanta". The painting is the size of a football field and is hung on a wall in a circular room. To view the painting, you enter the circular room where you sit on a platform the slowly spins. It's kind of like a show, as the platform spins, a narrator tells the story of the Battle of Atlanta and there are lights that are programmed to come on and highlight the area of the picture that the narrator is talking about. After the "show", you can look around a museum that is also located in the building. The museum houses Civil War memorabilia. To me, the coolest thing in the museum was the train engine "Texas" which won "The Great Train Chase" of 1862. After the Cyclorama, we left Atlanta and arrived in Waycross around 11pm. Everyone was tired, and we all knew that we had to be at school bright and early the next morning. Even though it was a busy trip, it was a lot of fun. It was one of those days that made me sit back, smile, and think "I can't believe I'm getting paid to do this".