Atanta, Day 2 at Yellow River Safari

We went to this really cool place that rehabilitates animals.  They keep ones that can't be returned to the wild, and people can go in and feed and pet (many of) them.  My girls LOVED this, Keegan and Kelsey especially.  The place doesn't work to "tame" the animals, but with so many people coming in feeding them, many of them are quite friendly.  One example, this fawn, nibbling at Kelsey's hair :) 

 This pheasant was SMART.  It would take peanuts from the girls, carry the nut to the doghouse, set it down on the floor, and peck it to open the shell.

 Hungry and friendly deer - the fence kept the people out, not the deer in!  Many of them came right over it to visit.

Keegy with some rabbits.  Can you tell she liked them?

Although it wasn't by hand (as Keegan would have preferred,) it was a real thrill to feed some bears.  They smiled like, "I am cute, feed me :D"  Another part of their cage had a tube you could use to drop food into the cage.  One bear sat at the bottom of the tube and would rattle it when he wanted people to drop in something.  Then he would check it out and see if that was what he wanted!

Kelsey feeding a rabbit.  We fed carrots, crackers, and peanuts. Peanuts and carrots were the definite favorites.

We debated several places as we were squeezing a lot into a little time, but are so glad we made time for this!

Guess where we went?

This first picture should be a big clue :).  Keegan's hair didn't rise a lot, but still enough to be fun :).

 We had a chance to meet up with Wendy, an old friend of mine from elementary school, and her daughter Morgan.  Here Morgan and Keegan check out some of the brain teasers.

 After a hint about how to do it, Caitlyn balances the nails!

 Morgan and Keegan working robot arms.

 Keegan watching Caitlyn use astronaut gloves

Kelsey and Caitlyn, sitting on a missile

 Kelsey is into silly poses at the moment

 Checking out the flattop house from WWII

 Checking out all of the toy cell phones that Keegan took in her purse, haha.

 Caitlyn, Keegan, Morgan, Silly Kelsey :)



Kelsey's Birth Day

While we celebrated Kelsey's birthday at American Girl Place, we still celebrated at home, too, on her actual birthday.  We like celebrating :).

My favorite picture from that day.  Kelse with her new platypus Webkinz.  She named it Cake Batter:).

 Cool! A hand made American Girl sweater from Caitlyn!

Birthday cake sill bandz - mommy buys such cool stuff ;)

 Sorting through the new silly bandz.

 She chose a brownie cake with choclate cherry frosting -yummmmmmmmm.

 And this one is actually from a couple of days later when she finished this huge castle project present - very neat!

I can't believe my baby is NINE YEARS OLD!!!!! Pretty traumatic, but other than that, a very fun,great day :)!

Civil War Ball

A ball at the ball -

We recently had the fun and educational experience of attending a Civil War Ball - very cool!  Everyone but me dressed for it, thanks to a very nice friend who loaned us costumes.  They looked great!

I, ummmm, sort of forgot about the girls needing gloves until the last minute, but an early morning dash to a wedding store saved the day.

Then we started curling hair...

some of us have hair that holds curl, others, not so much.



Caitlyn's curls



Keegan's curls



The girls with their sweet, ever-smiling friend, Karly :)

 SO cute!

 

Chad and Kelsey :)



Being presented to the Lincolns at the beginning of the ball.
It was AMAZING how much these guys looked like Abraham Lincoln!

 

 Keegan and Bill :)



Keegan spent quite a bit of time like this - staring at baby Kerrigan. 
Kerrigan is a doll and Keegan is a true baby lover.



In this dance, the guys and girls line up across from each other, go forward, back, under each others' arms, and that kind of thing ;), then....

Two couples go to the center between the two lines.  They chasse' in a circle, the girls spin underneath, then...

The race is on!  Both couples chasse' down the center aisle as fast as they can.  In this case, Caitlyn and Evan beat Bill and Keegan! (after Keegan assuring Caitlyn that she and Bill would win ;)

Keegan got chilly outside after the ball, and borrowed Bill's coat :)

Outside on the roof, after the ball :)



Hoop skirts, curls, babies, dancing, and friends - everything you could hope for for a wonderful evening. 

We can't wait until the next one!