Sunday, March 15, 2009

{Out of Africa}

A week and 1/2 ago we were lucky enough to get some visitors from Utah :o). Cody's oldest brother Kael and his wife Monica, and their 3 cute kids drove down to visit for a few days. On Saturday we drove a little north to Out of Africa Wildlife Park, and wow we were impressed! It was a fabulous day, the kids are still talking about all the amazing animals and shows we were able to watch and participate in. I highly recommend it if you haven't gone! I had only been once before (when it was at a different location), we went with Cody's family a day or two before Cody and I were married.



The first thing we did was hop on a safari bus and we were able to get very close (too close?) to the giraffes, zebras, and ostriches. Everyone fed the giraffe a carrot stick and you could pet him too.




Next was the snake show....very cool! After they talked about Burmese pythons the kids were able to go into the cage and "pet" the huge snakes for a long time. They were all so brave!






They were told not to touch the heads over and over...so when one of the pythons decided to rest his head on Ethan's lap, Ethan was as still as a statue! He thought it was pretty cool and would have let it rest on him longer if Mom hadn't made him scoot back away from the head!!



Next the kids and Dad's got to carry the 100+ pound snakes back to their cage in a van.






Even though the animals each have several acres to live in, most of them were up close to the fence! There were so many animals (bears, lions, tigers, zebras, etc) that we got up so close to. One of the lions was roaring over and over, it was so loud and the boys loved hearing it.



Rhett, Ethan, Logan

Logan, Crew, Kade





The weather was windy and times, and kind of chilly!!





Here are all the cute kids in the front row, ready to watch Tiger Splash! Mason (6), Crew (2), Titan (1), Rhett (7), Kade (2), Ethan (5), Logan (4), Chloe (4), Kendyll (8), Ryya (2).

Tiger Splash was amazing, 3 workers running around with 2 tigers....at times it seemed out of control, but that made for a great show! They got the tigers to jump into the pool and do other tricks. There was one moment where one of the tigers pinned a man, and he just laid there still while they tried to bribe the tiger off with meat (unplanned). Another time one of the tigers raced across the arena straight towards the announcer and at the last moment veered towards the other tiger, jumping on him and playing with him. The announcer was speechless for a minute or two....very scary!!

Okay guess here....is this a man or woman??


























Man. I was confused too :o)!! After the show the kids got to feed the tigers meat.


It was a great day, and a very fun weekend! We love visitors!! Come back soon :o)



9 comments:

Locamoniqua said...

Thanks Brooke for helping host our weekend. We had lots of fun and have some great memories!

Shannon said...

That looks like lots of fun!!! Love the pic of you and Kade!

Mandy said...

That looks so much fun! My kids would love it! We need to plan a trip!

The Bluths said...

How fun! I would LOVE to go to that! So cool!

Sam and Melissa said...

That looks so cool! I can't believe they let them play with the snakes like that, maybe we can go again when we visit.

Tiffani said...

That looks like a ton of fun. I love the picture of all the kids...you guys had quite the crew!

Brook & Travis said...

What a fun weekend! Don't you love it when family comes!? Gosh, it seems like we haven't seen any Ashton's for a long time! Loved all the pics! We'll have to remember that place if we ever come that way! You guys all have such cute kids!!

Tanner Fam said...

Definitely sounds better than my zoo experience. I need details of where that place is and prices. Send me an email when you get a chance. Great pics.

wittygal said...

Wow, I love how your glass is always have full. I couldn't get past the expense and lack of transport. I need do better at seeing my glass half full.