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.