Longleat Safari Park

Forgive me if I'm not quite as witty today.  I have finally fallen victim to the "crud" that the kiddos have been sharing with one another.  I can't breath out of my nose, can only hear out of one ear, and my head has been throbbing pretty much constantly for the last 24+ hours.  So, I'm feeling a little off my game.  That being said, I feel the need to post about our fun weekend before I head off to bed tonight.

But first...

I am going to start with an adorable picture of Grant.  Poor baby boy has been trying desperately to get both top front teeth through his tender little gums all weekend.  I just feel so bad for him.  Sometimes when I go to put him down for a nap or for the night he just can't nurse or fall asleep.  I have discovered that a great way to calm him is by letting him look out the window for a few minutes.  He loves the Christmas tree they put up right outside our building, and I think just watching the people and lights are soothing to him.  So, hopefully before too long I will be able to post a picture of his glorious new top teeth.

Until then, I am excited to share our adventures of this weekend with you.

Saturday we headed to Longleat Safari Park.  

I think Nathan hit it right on the head when he declared that it reminded him a lot of Silver Dollar City.  There are tons of attractions for the kids.  

Fun mazes for the kids to run around on.

 They also have a giant hedge maze, but we didn't have enough time (or courage) to attempt it.

There was a fun play area that we explored

Of course, as with all "tourists traps" there were the souvenirs.  Leah got the rainbow gloves and beaver (I think that's what it is anyway) stuffed animal.  D got a sweet new loader stocking cap.   

Grant opted for the giraffe rattle.  He seems pretty happy with his choice.

We had some yummy pizza for lunch.  Grant put his feet up, like usual, and made himself right at home while chowing down on his pizza crust.

Fun Fact:  Grant's nickname is "Munchkey."  Since he was born I had been calling him "munchkin", because he is the munchkin of our broad.  Or "monkey" because he has lots of mannerisms that remind me of a monkey, like putting his feet up on stuff ALL THE TIME.  Until one day my new mom brain failed me and a combination of the two came out, "Munchkey."  So that's pretty much what it's been ever since.  

 They had the most beautiful Christmas tree.

We enjoyed the tree, can you tell?  Since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here everywhere you go it is full on Christmas mode already.  

So by now you are probably wondering where the "Safari Park" in the name comes to play.

After hanging out at the main park area for a while we hopped back in the van and headed over to the Safari Park area at Longleat.

It was a pretty drive back to the safari entrance.

The Longleat Safari Park is a place that you drive through in your vehicle and are able to see some pretty amazing animals up close and personal.  There are some places you can get out of your vehicle and some places that it is okay to open your window to snap pictures.  Then there are places that you really don't want to do either one.  I'll get to those in a minute. 

Upon entering the park we saw some giraffes, zebras, flamingos, and then we entered the monkey jungle.

THIS is the sign that greets you as you approach the monkey jungle.

But they look so cute and sweet whatever do they mean?

Here is what they mean...

We had so much fun watching these little guys run from car to car "attacking" them in search of food.  Apparently Leah had fun spotting their "pee pees"...sorry about that.  You can turn the sound off while you watch the video if you like.  She is, well, she's five and has 2 brothers that's all I can come up with.

The monkeys were great fun and I felt I had totally gotten my moneys worth after the monkey jungle, but we were in for more wonderful treats on the safari.

Next up were the rhinos.

 Dylan said these were his favorite out of all the animals we saw.

Then we saw Anne the Elephant.

Now we knew there were tigers and lions on this safari, but I wasn't getting my hopes up.  I figured they would either be fenced off somehow and hard to see or just not visible because they were off laying around somewhere out of view.

This probably should have been my first clue that we were in for some fun. 

This is the first of two gates we had to go through to enter the tiger territory.

As we waited for it open, Nathan said it reminded him of Jurassic Park.  This is when I began to have second thoughts about tiger territory.  Because let's face it, Jurassic Park didn't end so well for everyone.

Oh how glad I am that we didn't turn around and run.

 This beautiful guy (or girl?) was laying just about 10 feet off to the side of the road.

Then a little ways down the path this guy walked literally 3 feet (if not less) past our car.  Nathan took this picture without using zoom.  It walked right by Leah's window, and it's paw was bigger than her head.  Not going to lie when I say my heart sort of skipped a beat as I watched it walk right by her door.  

The lions were pretty and some of them were quite playful.

Dylan proceeded to roll his window down as we drove through here.  I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you that this was NOT an area that you were allowed to do that in.  I, of course, panicked.  We managed to get it rolled back up before he became a lion snack.  Prompting Nathan to turn on the window locks, which we probably should have done at the beginning of the safari.  Lesson learned.

The Canadian Werewolf 

 These were beautiful, breathtaking, and terrifying animals to see.

We all really enjoyed the safari.  I am sure it's a memory the kids will keep with them for a long time.

After the safari we headed back to the main park area for some ice skating.

It was an absolutely gorgeous sunset.

After ice skating we went into the Longleat House.

They have a pantomime show there and it happened to be Cinderella's Ball the night we were there.

I probably don't need to tell you how THRILLED Leah was to meet Cinderella.  Dylan lucked out too.  He got to meet his favorite princess and long time crush Snow White.  He was so shell shocked we couldn't even get him to stand by Snow White for a picture, but he warmed up to the idea by the time we got to Cinderella. (sorry for the not so great pictures, it was pretty dark in there)

I am so glad that we spent the time and money to check out this place.  We all had such a great time.  I know it's a little early for us Americans, but this picture just screams... 

  "Merry Christmas!!!!"  

***Thank you to Nathan Miller for letting me use some of his beautiful photos for my blog***