How Do You Do...Zoo

After not having gone to the South Carolina Riverbanks Zoo in over 3 years I was more than ready to visit it again. While my heart belongs to the NC zoo with its sprawling acreage and winding shaded paths, it is not a zoo that can be toured quickly. However, the SC zoo is just as far away and can easily fit into a half day's schedule (something that was very appealing to a mother of a 4 week-old, amongst others). When we found out good friends of ours also had plans for the zoo, it made it all the sweeter.

Our kids and the Scruggs kids starting our zoo adventure!

Cute Kangaroo!

The babies seemed unimpressed with all of the exotic animals:)

Tons of goldfish in the fish pond.

By far, our favorite spot was the Giraffe Exhibit. It was feeding time and all of the kids were able to feed the giraffes, who were not shy by any means!

Cute little baby giraffe

Micah feeding the giraffe, you can't see the baby's head but you can see it's little black tongue looking for lettuce.

Calla even got to pet one!

Nehemiah was amazed by the giant tortoise.

Although difficult to see in this picture, Bella is pointing out an ostrich behind the zebra. Grandma seemed to enjoy her day!

Bella's favorite is always the carousel.

Elijah enjoying his day out in typical fashion:)

We found a cute little playground to let the kids run around and play on before we left. However, shortly thereafter a pop-up shower literally rained on our parade.While the men tried to stay dry and keep an eye on the kids from under the playset, Noah had even more fun playing in the rain and getting good and wet.

Meerkat

At the Gorilla Exhibit, this gorilla was napping up against the glass, lovely.

Calla and Micah played on a gorilla statue which was sitting in a much more flattering position. A perfect end to a wonderful afternoon, a stamped penny souvenir!

Biltmore Bliss/Gemstone Joy!

If you have been following along, you will know we had a super fun Biltmore trip planned for the previous Friday to which all kinds of craziness popped up delaying our Asheville trip until Tuesday. But alas, we were finally on our way to Biltmore, even with a chance of rain. Fortunately, our time there was beautiful and dry and very, very hot but the kids enjoyed running in the gardens and posing for pictures. Although, since this was the first time Jeff really got to let loose with the new camera, I think he may have had even more fun than the kids!

Sweetness

Peacefulness

Silliness

Some artistic shots with the new camera.

With tons of beautiful green space the kids could really run and play and work up an appetite.

A quick break for lunch (Here is a Davis family tip, we packed a lunch and drinks for the kids in a small cooler, in this case a lunchable and juice box each. Then Jeff and I purchase our meal at the food court, a $7.00 hot dog which, incedentally was the same price as a box of juice boxes and 5 lunchables!).

Back to the gardens to investigate.

Elijah enjoying his scenic surroundings!

The fish ponds with their GIANT goldfish were a huge hit.

After a wonderful afternoon at the estate, we decided to go to a gem mine afterward, ironically named Elijah Mountain. With rain on the horizon we loaded up quickly and raced to the mine just in time for the sky to open up on us! We ran into the store but the sluices themselves to mine the gems were only partially covered and boy did we get WET! But tons of fun was had by all and that was the goal.

Bella showing off her gems. I helped out a little but really the kids could easily do it themselves. Even Nehemiah wanted to get into the action. We all shared one 3 1/2 gallon bucket of "gemstone dirt" and that allowed for about 25 minutes of mining for 5 children. If you adjust that for the average family you could easily mine for close to an hour:)At home the kids really got to examine their treasures.After all of that fun we ended our trip with dinner at McDonalds, one with a huge playplace of course.