More From Our African Safari

Getting ready to go feed the giraffes.
This is the "savannah" part of the zoo where the giraffes, zebras and many other animals we were able to drive by live.
Zebras!!

Our first look up close at the giraffe. See Aspen and Journey's faces? They weren't so sure about that huge animal being right in their faces :)
This was the friendliest (and hungriest!) of the 4 giraffes they had there. They actually flew the giraffes in by 747's a couple years ago!
They are getting a little more comfortable...
They are such gentle animals. You can just see Aspen's head behind the giraffe's. He was finally okay with them being so close.
Petting it's long neck.

We were tired and hot after riding around for over an hour and a half looking at all the animals, but we had a great time and have hopefully made memories that will last a lifetime. At least for Aspen. We also got tons of videos of the giraffes. Where else can you interact with them like that?

African Safari

Today (Monday) we went to a real zoo. Well, actually, more like an African Safari. It was incredible and we really felt like we were in Africa. Our guide told us that it took the owner 15 years to get all the permits and permissions necessary to open the zoo. Just for the 5 giraffes plus permits it was over 10 million dollars!

We were driven through the park in a variety of safari-like vehicles - hummer, land rover defenders, etc. The roads were very rough and we were able to see a lot of animals up close, including wart hogs, zebras, ostriges, antilope, camels and of course our favorite, giraffes.

We 4-wheeled, and I mean 4-wheeled, to this beautiful waterfall in the park. It was an adventure that Aspen and Mark especially loved.

I am hoping that this picture can be lightened or something because it is really a great one of all of us together. It's rare that we are all looking at the same thing!

Journey was a brave girl and fed the camels carrots.

Looking at a real ostrige egg.

We were supposed to be able to feed the ostriges, but they were out of long carrots. They were fun to look at though!

I will post more of the giraffes next....

Tamarindo

Look Mama!
Yep, doesn't get any funner than this.....

A rare moment of playing together on the beach.
Aspen loved the ocean in Tamarindo. Much gentler surf than up where we are in Ocotal. We went further down the beach where the beach was much more crowded, and Aspen made friends with a Tico boy on vacation from San Jose (capitol of Costa Rica). He was just so happy to see another kid that he didn't care if he knew what he was saying :)
Daddy taking Aspen out to play in the big waves.

We took a day trip down to Tamarindo on Sunday. Aspen has been hit and miss on liking the beaches here. The surf is pretty heavy up where we are in most areas. We did find a great beach in Playa Hermosa (2 towns up), but when we went out on the beach, the sand was so hot that it burned our feet terribly. Aspen didn't know what to do when that happened and he just froze. It was horrible. Mark was in a meeting and not there. I had Journey in my arms and had to run across the sand as fast as I could until I reached the water. Aspen just stood in the burning hot sand screaming. Ever since then, he hasn't wanted to go onto the sand, even with his shoes on.

Mama....

...Journey called to me from the back seat, and here is what we saw when we looked back.

Silly girl :) She loves to do things to make us laugh. This trip she has been calling my name constantly from the backseat to look at what ever she sees - a cow, dog, people, etc. But this was a little different. She just wanted to show us how silly she is.

More Pool Time

This is Journey's favorite place in the pool, right by the stairs with plenty of places to hold on.
The only thing missing is Aspen's blow up floaty thing that he found. It has provided so much entertainment. Oh, also the balloon that he was given that is also being used as a floaty or to splash everyone with.


Peek-a-boo!!!

Snakes

After we were done with the monkeys, we got to go see the snakes. They had probably 20-30 different varieties.

Another family picture attempt. Complete with a snake.
120 lb. piathon - Aspen wasn't so sure he wanted to get too close.
Aspen was facinated with the snakes, but didn't really want to hold any himself. I don't blame him!
Journey enjoyed it too, as long as she didn't have to touch them.

Yep, that's my girl :)

Our guide through the zoo was great. He remembered Mark and I from a couple months ago, helped take pictures for us, and gave us so much information about the animals. I didn't get any pictures, but we also got to go see the butterflys and frogs.

Monkey Madness

We went to the petting zoo today and had such a blast playing with the animals. All the way there Journey was making monkey and snake noises. She knew we were going to see them and was excited too :)

The monkeys liked to pull and play with Aspen's hair.
Aspen petting the pet raccoon and the monkeys. Journey was facinated with the monkeys and giggled when they would reach their hands out of the cage to touch her.
We were surprized when Journey wanted to get into the monkey cage too. She liked to feed them, but would get overwhelmed when they would jump all over her.

A family picture in the monkey cage.

There are more pics to come of the snakes and the rest of our day, but this is is for now.