Going to the Birds

One other gift pass from the boys Cub Scout popcorn sales that needed to be used by year-end was to the Brevard Zoo.  

This is one of our favorite zoos.  Its about an hour drive from our house but well worth it.  The weekends had been cold for the past couple weeks so we kept putting off going, in the end we just had to go on a cold day because there was no time left.

I wasn't so worried about the kids on a cold day, we could layer them up, I was worried about the animals not being very active.  As it turned out I had no need to worry.

This would be Amber's first visit and she really liked it.  She even offered her cracker to the willing deer (oops).

The giraffes too were eager to be fed (sweet potatoes instead of crackers now) and the cheetahs were active in their enclosure; as were the kids climbing around it.

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We had one of the best times ever in the Aviary that day.  The Lorakeets were particularly friendly and hungry.  Everyone was able to really enjoy feeding them.  Some days its does not go as well.

After lunch we wandered into the petting zoo and play area.  The boys played while Amber met the Alpacas.  Chis had to laugh as he knew I'd start quoting the "I Love Alpacas" website.  I've been joking with him we need to buy an alpaca farm since before we had kids.  This was our first time really hanging out with one.  Boy are they soft!  Amber of course barked at them, she barks at anything with four legs.

While we petted, Lance build a large nest that the boys posed in before we left for the day.  It was a nice way to spend a cool day and finish off the year.

So Long 2012 - So Long Training Wheels!

 Titus decided to celebrate the last day of the year by having Chris remove his training wheels.  As you can tell by this short video, he was ready to ride.


This may appear like a sudden change but with Titus that's typical.  He walks to the beat of his own drummer.  Titus only does what Titus wants when Titus wants to and as a parent that means our job is to make him "want" to do what we want him to do.  Trust us, nothing else works and I'm glad it doesn't.  In the end its always been our goal to have the boys want to do the right thing because they want to, not to gain reward or avoid punishment.  Titus being Titus forces us to be better parents.

I love my little farmer boy!

UPDATE:  Then when we went to Sea World on New Years Day he decided he wanted to ride a roller coaster.  So he and I went on his first kiddie roller coaster.  Not sure what he thought.  He echoed my "whoo-hoos" but not very enthusiastically and he didn't ask to ride again :-P  BTW New Years Day is a great day to go its really empty.