Tallahassee Museum

Drove to Tallahassee on Monday so that we could see Jess and her kids without driving all the way to Alabama. As a bonus, Kelli was able to drive up from Orlando and join us. Such a great day.



Meeting up in the parking lot of the Tallahassee Museum/zoo - the kids were thrilled to get OUT of the car! Here's Parker making sure his phone was working so he could make voice recordings about all the neat things we would see:



We started out with a picnic lunch - where we all got a little sidetracked checking out the cool caterpillars that were around. Kelli let one crawl all over her hand!



Anndra was more interested in her sandwich than the caterpillars:



The kids enjoyed the caboose (Kelli remembers climbing through it when she was little!):



Anndra was in a GREAT mood (which could be because - thankfully! - she napped in the car on the way):



Unfortunately poor Kate didn't nap and was not too happy. She was stuck like glue to Mommy the entire day (Jess, you really are a SUPERMOM):



Parker played Tour Guide and was a great leader. He'd study the map to see what was next, then announce it like this -"Who wants to see some otters?" - and all the other kids would call out: "Me!" "Me!" "I do, I do - MEEE!" And he/they did this again and again for each new exhibit or habitat. I should have taken a video - it was precious:



I was really glad we both brought our double strollers... with 5 kids under 5, there was never a shortage of tired little legs:



I don't think I've ever seen a bald eagle this close before:



Knowing that eagles are Todd's favorite animal, Parker couldn't wait to text his dad and send a picture:



We saw lots of other animals, but here are a few of our favorites (and why):

Owls (because Parker's reading the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series)



Wolves (because of Parker's rank in cub scouts)



Panthers (because they look so much like cougars - Go BYU!)



Then MORE caterpillar sightings - I think the kids had greater interest in these little bugs than in the zoo animals!



After all the outdoor exhibits, we were pretty hot - so we cooled off in the Discovery Center:









Once we were cool and rested we finished the day off with a short run around the playground (as in: Kids, get your wiggles out before you have to sit in the car for 2 more hours). Parker enjoyed the Tire Monster: