Olivia's AR Field Trip

 Olivia loves to read, and she spent lots and lots of time reading and taking accelerated reader (AR) tests this school year.  As a reward, the school took the top 10 AR readers from each grade level to Wild Adventures for a day of fun- and Olivia fell into this category.  This field trip occurred on the exact same day as Owen's beach trip.  So, while the boys were at the beach, the girls were at the theme park.  I thought that Olivia would have fun riding the rides with her friends, but that wasn't the case.  All of the kids pretty much ended up walking around with their parents instead of with other kids.  That was fine with me.  We took this opportunity to ride some of the rides that we can't ride when Owen is with us (because he is too short)- including two of the big roller coasters.  I let Olivia plan our day, and she wanted to do a lot of the animal-centered activities.  She fed the birds, butterflies, and pet a baby emu.  We had a great time.

Owen's Beach Field Trip

The Kindergarten field trip is a visit to the beach on St. Simon's Island. Owen was so excited to get to go play in the ocean with his friends. Brian went with them as a chaperone, and they both had so much fun.  As you can see, we will be rocking the Ear Bandit again this year as Owen still has one tube left in his ear.  After a fun morning at the beach, Brian checked Owen out and the two boys went to Zaxby's for lunch.  It was a fun day.

R5

 The kids and I (along with about 1,000 screaming tweens) attended the Fifth Harmony / R5 concert at Wild Adventures.  In case you don't know, R5 is a band that features Ross Lynch (from "Austin and Ally" and "Teen Beach Movie") and his siblings.  He's a pretty big deal for the young-girl set.  This concert was part of the Wild Adventures concert season and was free with our season pass.  We had a very full day- spending the afternoon at the park and then attending the concert in the evening.  It was actually a pretty good show. We didn't have reserved seats, so we sat on a grassy hill toward the back.  This turned out for the best because my kids think that they are professional breakdancers and were eager to show off their moves.  There was plenty of room to do that in the grass.  We didn't get home until after midnight, and the kids were totally exhausted.  

Easter

I always look forward to Easter and to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.  Even though we do the Easter Bunny thing, we always make it a point to keep the true meaning of the holiday at the forefront.  

The kids spent their morning searching for the eggs that the Easter Bunny hid and playing with the things in their Easter baskets.

 We attended Sunday school and church.  Following the service, we took our traditional pictures in front of the cross.  Olivia was so excited to wear the new American Girl Easter dress that her Poppy and Nana got her.  She loves to having dresses that match her baby doll.

 After a delicious meal at Granny Buie's, the kids got ready to look for eggs.  It keeps getting harder and harder to hide the eggs each year.  We keep having to get creative in our hiding spots.  Even though some of the eggs were hidden really well, the kids managed to find them all.  This was a wonderful way to wind down the afternoon.

Getting Ready for Easter

 The kids participated in several activities leading up to Easter.  First was the Easter performance of the Children's Choir at church.  Owen and Olivia both had duets this year.  Owen sang "The B-I-B-L-E" with Natalie, and Olivia sang "I have decided to follow Jesus" with her friend Hannah.  All of the kids did a great job.

 Later in the week was the church Easter egg hunt.  Awards were given for the most (and least) eggs found in each division.  Olivia felt bad for Owen because he didn't find as many eggs as she did, so she gave him a bunch of hers.  This act earned Olivia the "sportsmanship" award- which she also shared with her brother.  I love it when the kids get along.

 Another fun pre-Easter activity was dying the eggs with their daddy.  The kids always enjoy this.

Snaggle tooth

After hanging by a thread for about two weeks, Olivia's front tooth finally came out.  It was followed almost immediately by her other front tooth.  We now have this sweet, toothless beauty.

Giraffe Ranch

On the last day of our Spring Break trip, we visited the Giraffe Ranch in Dade City.  This is not a zoo, it is a nature preserve that offers a safari-like experience.   It is owned and operated by the ex-zoo director of Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo.  He and his wife Elena actually live on the property and offer a very unique animal experience.  You must make reservations for this.  When we arrived, we were greeted by a few camels.  Our favorite was doofus, a silly camel who loves to be around people.  After spending some time with the camels, Elena came out and started talking to us about what we were going to see on our safari.  She discussed the different types of animal horns and had some bone samples that she passed around.  After learning a little about the animals, we split up into two groups.  We were in the first group to feed the ring-tailed lemurs.

 Feeding the lemurs was THE highlight of the entire trip for me.  These animals are so sweet and gentle.  We fed them grapes.  When you hold out your hand, they grab your finger with theirs.  It feels like a newborn grabbing your hand- so sweet.  I could have spent all day with the lemurs.  This is something that I will never forget.

 After we fed the lemurs, we visited the other animals.  Lex- who was the former director of Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo walked around with us and gave us tons of info about all types of animals.  How often is it that you get a private tour with such a knowledgeable person?  I so enjoyed listening to him.

Once we finished our walking tour, we loaded up onto safari vehicles and headed out.  We were in Elena's vehicle, and she made several stops to point out various animals and tell us a bit about them.  In this picture, Olivia is holding an ostrich egg.

 The main attraction is feeding the giraffes.  This is different from zoos where you pay $2 and get a carrot.  We were parked in front of the giraffes for about 20 minutes and spent the whole time with them.

 We saw lots of other animals, too.

 This little guy was only two days old.

At the end of our tour, doofus came back up.  He was such a loveable guy.  We had a great time at the giraffe ranch.  It was a unique experience.