April heard about this park located near her town. It was some park! We had quite the adventure and faced many fears and dangers.
Most of the park was heavily wooded. As we were passing under some trees, April said, "We probably need to check for ticks after our visit." She was right. Case got one on him (and we got it off) before we left the park.
The whole bird area was freaky. And not just because of the ultra-aggressive lorikeets (if you're friends with Josh on FB, you can see his crazy video of the birds too). I'm not a huge bird fan, but birds like these do not help. See its creepy red eyes? It's like he is trying to take my soul. I'm getting the willies just thinking about the frogmouth. Then as we are weaving through the bird area, I look down and notice A LOT of spiders scurrying around. Ahhh! I'm pretty sure I acted like a silly girly girl. Not my proudest moment.
And these signs were posted everywhere in this area. I wonder if anybody ever lost a finger to a big ol' parrot? Maybe not a parrot, but definitely that soul-sucking, red-eyed bird up above.
When we entered the lorikeets' area, the bird boy gave us this long spill about the birds and proper behavior. I don't remember much of his instructions because of what happened next and because he kept trying to be funny. (Trying is the key word.) He tells us: (1) The birds will swarm us because we are some of the first to come in and feed them for the day, (2) Do not scream no matter what, and (3) You must keep walking to clear the doorway. Have you ever fed the lorikeets at the OKC zoo? This was NOTHING like that. These birds were from Hitchcock's Birds. As soon as the door opened, they swarm us, and...it's all a blur after that. I remember bits and pieces. I remember April screaming. Liam started crying. I have my eyes closed and am just trying to drag Liam further into the cage of terror. Josh and Casen? Cool as cucumbers. Or at least by the time I opened my eyes and got my bearings, they were. Finally, I calmed down enough to
To prove that Liam wasn't scarred for life, this is him perfectly happy with a bird on his head a little later after the crying subsided.
To continue our quest of facing all possible fears, we took the kids down into the cave. It was a bit stressful ensuring they don't touch the limestone that hadn't been touched for 100 years (our guide kept telling us not to touch certain places) and to ensure that the kids didn't fall. A couple of places I carried Liam through a low spot or April and I each took a hand and guided him through a tight spot. Case and Daddy were regular spelunkers.
After watching a sheep herding demonstration and sheep-shearing info-session, any kids could volunteer to milk a cow. This city girl was both intrigued and proud of her Case.
Then we went into the kangaroo sanctuary. There were herds of a many females with some babies and a couple of males. These giant male kangaroos let you pet them. Yes, that's correct. Kangaroos. I was shocked at how huge they were.
And soft.
And irritated they sound after about 50 hands brush them in a 3-minute time period. That was when the kangaroo girl loudly goes, "Uh, let's leave him alone. I think he's had enough."
I thought, Do kangaroos bite? Because that's my two year old petting him there. Okay, probably not. They would just have to kick or smack you with their tail across the sanctuary.
Thankfully, we didn't witness that.
Finally, we got to pet lizards and snakes. And Case, our question boy, would raise his hand every time the snake man (are you noticing a theme?) would ask, "Any questions?" In response, Case would raise his hand and state some sort of fact. Like: "A snake wiggles back and forth to cross the road." He didn't quite grasp the difference between a fact and a question. Mr. Factoid was quite proud of himself. His parents? Proud of his assertive ways. Everybody else? Amused. Well maybe. Some probably thought, Where are his parents?
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