A View from and Elephant's Back

The one thing the kids wanted to do while in Thailand was ride an elephant. So on the third day we drove almost 2 hours outside of the city and went on an elephant ride. I think it is something the kids will remember for the rest of their lives. I mean, who could forget sitting on the back of an elephant, walking through a jungle in Thailand?



Matt, Chris and Sami went on the elephant ahead of us. So many of the pictures I have taken are from behind.


One of the neatest parts of the ride was walking through a small creek while on the elephants.

There were lots of pretty trees, flowers and other vegetation to see.

If you look real close you will even see a few monkeys in this picture. And yes, they are wearing shirts. Strange, I know. Imagine seeing a monkey running around wearing clothes in the jungle.



We did manage to get a few pictures of us front the front. And even a shot or two of Emily and myself.




Afterwards the kids were able to feed the elephants some bananas. Just a small treat for not throwing us off.

You can see many more pictures here. Just keep in mind it is hard to take decent pictures from atop a moving elephant.

Kobe Oji Zoo

Last Saturday Matt and I took the kids to the Kobe Oji Zoo. The weather was fantastic and it was the first place that we have been to that has not been wall to wall people.

We were surprised at how big the zoo was considering the lack of land available in Japan. It had many of the animals we see back at zoos in the states, plus some others specific to Asia. We loved the panda bears. We all loved the zoo (even Matt) and plan on going back this April when the cherry blossoms are blooming.

Matt & I outside the zoo.
The kids posing for a picture outside of the zoo gates.
Some decor outside of the zoo.


Waterfall in the petting zoo.
The kids and a goat. Baaaa...
I love, love, love the pandas. They have two of them plus a brand new baby. Hopefully they will have the baby on exhibit soon.
There had to be at least 8 koala's inside the koala house.
The koala's were huge. I have seen them at zoo's in the states, however they were never this big. They looked so cute we wished we could cuddle them.

Sami, the iguana.
The seals came right up to us at the windows and if you "scratched" them through the window they would rub up against the window and turn circles.
The polar bear was pretty cool too.
The kids liked the elephants too.
We got some noodles from a stand inside the zoo.
There is even an amusement park inside the zoo.
Kids can slide down a long slide to get into the amusement area from the zoo.

We had to hurry past the kangaroo area quickly. If you look behind this kangaroo you will see a partial view of some "kangaroo loving". Yes, they were having sex, while the other kangaroo standing there watched.

Some funky little monkeys. 

Hollywild Here We Come

The gymnastics meet was 4.5 hours away from where we live, right along the NC/SC border. Shannon came to watch Em from her new house in Greenville, SC and she recommended taking the kids to Hollywild to see the Christmas lights and go through the enchanted forest. So the level 5 team set out for SC and headed to Hollywild. (kinda sounds like we made the American Idol finals huh?)

The kids had a blast. You load as many people in a car that you can and drive through a 100 acre park with lions, bears, leopards, and other wild animals (they are in their own fences) to see thousands of holiday lights.
Some of the lights during the drive through the park.
Lights on the lake.

Then you drive into the "enchanted forest" and park your car. Inside the enchanted forest there are hundreds of deer, along with some donkeys, zebras and buffalo. These animals will come right up to the car and eat seed corn out of your hand! It was amazing.
Deer eating out of Shannon's hand.
One of the herds of deer inside the enchanted forest.

Some of the girls waiting for deer to come eat.

Emily and Alex looking for the deer outside of their car. (as you can tell Shannon and I were crowned the toddler car. We didn't get any of the cool older kids with us. Just Sam and David)

After you leave the enchanted forest there is a petting zoo where you can feed milk to the baby goats, feed camels and feed the largest cows I have ever seen (they weighed 3,600 pounds!!)
Sami feeding a baby goat!
Giant cows from Africa.

Needless to say if you ever make it to South Carolina around Christmas time I recommend making your way to Hollywild. Especially if you have young kids. This is what they will look like afterwards.

Nighty-night!