Snakes and such

I took the kids to the Reptile Zoo last Saturday. They LOVED it, almost more then the regular zoo I do believe!There were all kind of amazing creatures there. Turtles, snakes, lizards, alligators, even spiders and frogs.
There were actually two sections to the place, it's a good thing we had met up with friends there that knew all about it or we might have left only seeing one side. It would have still been cool, but not nearly as amazing as the whole thing!

Ira was quite the snake charmer! Seriously. And he was super into everything there, especially the snakes. No fear at all just a lot of curiosity. Good thing we don't have poisonous snakes in our area.

We got to met up with these wonderful friends for a fun filled day. {Melody also has an awesome blog, check it out!} After the zoo we went to a park for a picnic and a nature hike as well as playing on the play equipment. {We had so much fun that the day just flew bye and before we were ready we had to say goodbye.}

They even got to hold some snakes, boy were they excited! {Can't say the same for myself...} Atty was a little bit distracted, he gets overwhelmed easily so he couldn't focus very well but I still got a few photos of him and he held the snakes for a moment before moving on. I was just glad he held it together and didn't have a melt down. That use to be a big problem with him, but it actually hasn't happened in a while thank goodness.
He's just really scattered and wanders around randomly from thing to thing, it's hard to keep an eye on him and can be sort of stressful at times, especially because he is very impulsive. I caught him trying to lift a lid of a spider cage when we were there, yikes!

Spike's face just glowed the whole time we were there, he was really into the whole experience. :) {I just hope he doesn't some day ask for a "pet" snake, ack!}

Bubu was also really excited about the whole thing, and so gentle with the snakes, a bit more timid then Spike but just as willing to hold them.

A bowl of snake anyone?

Atty in awe.

There were the most adorable frogs in here! My favorite part. I prefer things with out strong jaws, sharp teeth, venom and the ability to strangle you. But maybe that's just me.

Bubu's super excited face. :)

At the end I decided to spring the extra so that the kids could hold the big snake and get their picture taken. I'm glad I did {not something I would normally do being the frugal lady I am... some would say cheap or stingy, ha ha!} it ended up being the highlight of the whole trip for the boys and Lala was really excited too. She had no fear of this thing what so ever! I had to keep stopping her from trying to pet it's face.

Spike did not want to give it back. At all. I think he could have hung out with it all day! He was very excited to get a chance to be on the head end for a moment.

Such a great experience. I really had to swallow my fears and enjoy the moment with my kids. My husband was not as excited to see the kids so close and personal with the snake, when I showed him the pictures he was less then thrilled, ha ha! At one point when they were holding the snake it started to wrap back around Bubu's neck and he said "Mom it's trying to hug me!" Um yes son that's what it's trying to do... sure. I just smiled and nodded while unwrapping it, quickly. Why take that special moment away with the reality that snakes don't hug. Bubu told everyone, all day long, that the snake liked him so much that it tried to give him a hug and it was because he was so gentle with it. Sweetness.

The only thing that had the potential to ruin our visit was the rude girl that worked there that had no customer service skills what so ever and lacked in class in a big way. She was pretty nasty and I really had to bit my tongue and let it go, some thing I'm trying to get better at.

All in all is was a superb day and we hope to go back again soon, the kids really want to bring their daddy next time... I can't wait to see how that goes. :)