Beach Photo Shoot

My animal lover's first trip to the zoo...Gulf Breeze, Florida

For some reason Jeanette and I had to pick the hottest day of our vacation to go to the zoo. It may not have "technically" been the hottest day, but since we weren't 15 feet from water it sure felt like it. Of course, the heat sure didn't put a damper on the day. The kids loved it! I'm not surprised since Carly seems to like any furry creature you put in front of her...reminds me of myself, especially as a kid. I could have had a house full of pets. The animals were pretty calm (except for the ostrich...who are much more aggressive than I realized) I guess the heat made them lazy.The kids were eating the goldfish crackers as fast as we could hand them out...

...or was it the peacock doing all the eating? Carly has a thing about sharing her food with Lacey. Why did I think that would change at the zoo? She loved throwing the crackers to the peacock...and the boys (and adults) joined in.

Here's the peacock. Unfortunately it never fanned it's feathers....bet it was a beauty.

Carly felt like a big girl pushing Carter around. So funny since she can barely see over the stroller.

I love monkeys....look at the little baby!Carly was a little nervous around the giraffe. Can't say I blame her considering how tall he was and how long his tongue was. Oh my! I didn't realize how LONG their tongues are!

It took a while, but I finally got Carly to feed him!

Same with the goats...it took a while for Carly to get used to them but pretty soon she was shoving food into their faces. I didn't think I would ever get her away from them.

There were baby goats too. I think they were about about 2 months old.

They were so adorable!

As you can tell the kids loved them.

I turned to put something in the diaper bag and when I turned back around Carly was carrying one of the baby goats around. It was the cutest thing but of course my camera was not in my hand and she never did it again. I hate when I miss photo opportunities like that!!

Saying bye-bye to the goat.

Aren't they cute! Jeanette and her boys!
OK...This is a terrible picture, but we went on a train ride before we left the zoo. Need I remind you how hot it was...and we were here for 4 hours or so. We headed straight to Navarre Beach to cool off. We were worn out but had a good time!

This is why I love my job!!!

Here is a group of students that I taught while I was living in Pensacola, FL. These kiddos are from the last class I had there. They were 1st graders who have now grown into 4th graders. I cannot believe how much they have changed. I guess I was still expecting my little babies. I was a little saddened to see that they have grown up so much. I wish I would have gotten a picture with all of my old students but didn't really think about it until the end. It was so good to see them all again though. Many of them came running out of their classrooms when they realized I was there. And I heard from several teachers that they still talk about me all the time. It's times like that I realize that I played a special part in the kids lives....that I actually made a difference. And that's what teaching is all about!!! I love the relationship that I made with these kids!