Brian was on vacation from work this week, so we decided to head to Valdosta and take Olivia to Wild Adventures. Owen was too young to go, but he was very happy to spend the day with his Granny. Wild Adventures is a local amusement park that also houses animals. We spent a large part of the morning looking at the animals. Olivia is a big animal lover, but I've been a little concerned over her preference for reptiles lately. We spent more time looking at the snakes and at the water monitor than anything else. I couldn't be too upset, though, because the snake house was air conditioned whereas the other animal exhibits were not (and it was really hot outside).
There were plenty of opportunties to feed the animals at Wild Adventures, and I think Brian took advantage of all of them. He fed the deer, the goat, the swan, and the giraffe. He would have fed the llama too if we could have gotten it to come over to us. Olivia didn't want to feed the animals, but liked watching us do it. Her favorite was Ricky the giraffe. You are technically suppose to purchase tickets to feed the giraffe at the safari station. We were the only people at the giraffe feeding and didn't know that we should have tickets. Instead of making us walk all the way back to the station to get tickets, the park employee just gave us the carrots and let us feed the giraffe for as long as we wanted. I guess it was a good thing that we went on a day when there weren't many people in the park.
We also spent a good portion of our morning riding the rides at the park. Brian and I have been to Wild Adventures many times, but I can honestly say that we had never ridden any of the rides that we rode this time. We alternated riding with Olivia. I was lucky enough to ride the dragon ride and the kiddie log ride with her while Brian got to ride the carousel, the kiddie train, and the "Fiesta Express" which was a kiddie roller coaster. I wasn't really sure about how she would handle the coaster. As you may know- Brian and I are big coaster enthusiasts. We really wanted Olivia to have a positive first experience on a coaster (because she will probably spend many a vacation riding them). Well, the verdict is in- her favorite ride in the whole park was the coaster. She wanted to ride it over and over again and we had a hard time getting her away from it.
With our park admission, we were also able to get int
o Splash Island Water Park. Olivia had a great time playing in the little kid splash area. I also got into my bathing suit and played in the kiddie area with her (but you're not going to see a picture of that). Her favorite thing was going down the water slide. It was really a little too much for her to do by herself, so Brian and I had help her out. Of course her favorite thing was the thing that she couldn't do alone. After the upteenth time helping her go down the slide, we decided that our arms and back were sore and that it was time to go.
All things considered, it was a great day. Olivia was well behaved for the most part- even though she did get tired during the middle of the day. Needless to say, she went to bed very quickly once we got home.
Brian and I have been married for more than seven years now, and in all of this time we have never owned a grill. So for Father's Day (and after several not-so-subtle hints), Brian got one. Let me just say that if I knew then what I know now, we would have had a grill a long time ago. Brian has grilled out almost every day this week (and my time spent in the kitchen has gone way down). He has grilled hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken, and vegetables this week. I even saw a package of steak in the refrigerator today that Brian says is for Friday. Yeah!!! Here is a picture of Brian with this wonderful piece of machinery. 
Olivia likes to help her dad grill. Well, she likes the fact that she gets to be outside. What she doesn't like, though, is when Reecee (our yard dog) tries to lick her toes. Here is a picture of Olivia trying to escape the slobbery Reecee affection.
