summer family fun... part two

We were driving home from work a few weeks ago, and Laura said I really want to go to the Miami Zoo... we've never been and people keep telling me how great their giraffe feeding station is! Well, she was right. We have lived less than two hours away for 19 years, and we had never been. This truth burst out at just the right time... because we had a second weekend of family fun to plan.

When we got home that day, I started researching, found a Groupon... and realized that our favorite food truck was going to be out the night before our planned zoo day. We had bounced around the idea of staying overnight, and that sealed the deal.  Last Saturday, we headed out across Alligator Alley for our second weekend of family fun...

We laughed as we splashed through the puddles and tried to decide if we were full or not. We watched a man offer to wrap his pythons around kids necks for $5, and Cam & I looked at each other with two thoughts: no way, and Laura wouldn't approve! And then we laughed again when Laura caught up to us and said you know, his handling of snakes is not very responsible! Oh how we love our zoo girl!

The zoo was HOT and beautiful. There was lots of shade and miles of walking.  We did enjoy it all, and it makes me sad we waited so long to see it! Most of my photos came out awful {I need to get back into picture-taking!} but these are my favorites...

 

Obviously, those first animals aren't even real! But then we finally made it to the giraffes... the reason she wanted to come. We each got a bowl full of kale and let the giraffes drool on our hands as we fed them. It was fun and fantastic, and it was exactly what we hoped it would be!

For that night between adventures, we stayed where there were warm chocolate chip cookies and a pull-out sofa. There was also a bar in the lobby, and as the four of us sat around a small table (one with a coca-cola) it just hit me hard that this is real life. The growing and the growing up. Conversation ranged from world issues to Crossy Road, and looking back, I realize those thirty minutes might be the most important of our whole weekend. We will always be four, even when life adds people to our numbers. It is a beautiful thing to know, and maybe just what family fun weekends are for.