Chehaw Fun!

Recently my dad told me of a wild animal park in Albany, GA.  He had done some research online and decided it would be a great place for the boys to visit.  I had my reservations that it would be anything grand. . . afterall. . . it is Albany.  And, the way he described it sounded like a little step up from our own Junior Museum.  But, nevertheless, I agreed to it and decided to go with my parents and the boys. With one stipulation. . . .we must travel in my car. . . a roomy mini-van complete with built in dvd players and wireless headsets.  Ah. . . .

Since we bought the car a few months ago we have never let the boys watch the DVDs (except for one time that we were learning how to work them LOL!).  I am pretty strict on letting them watch movies and tv.  The DVD player is reserved for out of town trips.  So, they were excited that they were finally going to get to watch movies!

We left last Friday morning and, to my surprise, the drive was not bad at all.  Only about an hour and a half.  We had a good time together.

When we arrived I was shocked to see that we were one of TWO cars in the entire (very large) parking lot.  As we approached the entrance it looked completely deserted.  It was.  No animal workers.  No people manning the gift shop.  No restaurants open.  Nothing.  But. . . it was completely spotless.  Brick walkways or either board walks, very clean restrooms, etc.  I was amazed.  We enjoyed the entire day almost completely by ourselves.  I think we saw three other families the entire day.  The boys LOVED it!!

Here is the thing I absolutely completely utterly HATED:  I did not bring my "big" camera.  Just my freakin' iPhone.  I thought about it, knew I would be dealing with a stroller, kids, etc. and just didn't really want to lug it along.  EVERYTIME I make this decision I end up regretting it. . . obviously I don't learn this lesson well.  So, ALL of these pictures are from my iPhone (with an exception of a few that mom took).  Boo hoo!!!  But, they are still good memories to have.  Get ready for picture overload though. . . there are LOTS.

My dad definitely did good on this one!

can't believe my mom got this close!  These Lama's were my favorite animals.

SNAKES!

Chickens running around everywhere. . .

this pond looked like green carpet. . . spooky.  Would die if I fell in!!

Can't you just hear him say, "I know a great dentist, let me get his number for you."

Can you find Zach?

They had a HUGE playground too. . . it was awesome!

Maybe I loved her so much because she reminds me of Bella LOL!  :)  She's adorable!!

It was a great trip.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  I loved spending the day with you.

A Merry Christmas Indeed. . .

Our Christmas was awesome.  Very merry.  Very blessed.  I hope yours was too.

I have lots of pictures to catch you up on.  First of all, Chase Parker "performed" (boy do I use that word lightly) in his first Christmas program.  He was adorable even though he didn't sing a note, no, not one.  He was, however, the best behaved out of his class I think!  He stood there very still, facing forward, no tears, no running off the stage in hysterics, no bothering friends.

You can see it got a little hairy here. . .my son is in awe of his girlfriend beside him, while others around them are showing off hilarious facial expressions!

The kids were ADORABLE. . . and here he is walking back to his classroom with his teacher Miss Murphy.  He adores her. . .

 We picked up Zachary from school early so he could see his brother in his first play.  He loved it!  It was so fun to see them together.  Zach is an awesome big brother!  I love this shot of him here. . .

And, a friend was nice enough to snap a quick family shot. . .I love my men!!

The grandparents were proud as peacocks. . . .

It was an enjoyable day. . .

And, later that week Zach and I had fun baking our Happy Birthday Jesus cake for Christmas Day dessert.  And, there was fun at FunStation Jr. with Daddy.  He has had the whole week off so we have enjoyed having fun with him.

All the fun has a certain little one and big furry thing pooped out!

AND. . . CHASE PARKER got out of his crip and into a big boy bed now!  Yippee!!  He has done great with the transition. . . SO much easier than Zachary did at his age.  :)  He loves it!

 Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma and Granddaddy Birdwell's house. . . fun times!

And then Christmas morning arrived. . . it was a grand time.  The boys make Christmas so enjoyable at their age. . .

We enjoyed Christmas dinner at my mom and dad's home.  Mom prepared a DELICIOUS turkey and all the trimmings for us to enjoy.  A funny story. . . she cooked the turkey through the night (thankfully!) and had all the trimmings prepared to cook the next morning.  Unfortunately she discovered that something was wrong with her oven.  The kids had to divide the food up and take it to their respective homes to cook it.  LOL!!  Thank goodness we all live very close to each other.  All was on time and all was delicious!

Uncle Steve and Aunt Lisa sent the boys marshmellow machine guns.  Gotta love them.  So, Papa and Grammy's squirrels in their yard will be enjoying marshmellows for months to come.  :)

The boys loved their trains and legos that they rec'd. . . Zach is REALLY into legos now.  He loves them and is so good at them.  I love it because he is getting so much better at using his left arm now after breaking it recently.  :)  YAY!  

 We are ready for the new year to begin.  2013 should bring exciting things for the Birdwell family.  Happy New Year to you all!!