Making Memories

What could be better than getting to spend a night in a hotel so that you can be up bright and early at the zoo the next day? Doing it with your Yaya, aunts and cousins! All the McCormick ladies and kids met in Tyler for a fun weekend that Yaya has had in the works for a year.  We never found a good weekend last fall or spring so we were so excited to do it now.  First up was a little swimming at the hotel 

Lows have been in the 60s for the last week so the adults didn't want to get in but it didn't seem to phase the kids.  They played about an hour before we went to dinner.  Everyone was in bed pretty early to get rested for the next day.  We had breakfast there and were up and out to be there before they opened at 9:00. 

This was one of the best zoos I've ever been to and we really lucked out with the animals.  The temperature was nice and it was overcast so everyone was up moving around and playing for us to see.  I think almost everyone's favorite was the lion family.  There was a male and female with their four 8 month old cubs that were playing and loving on each other.

It was pretty interesting to hear all of the animal facts Lilli knew.  She was our little tour guide and there were a couple of times she told every fact that the sign said.  I wish I could take credit but I know it's from watching The Wild Kratts.

 Her favorite was the rhino.  It was towards the end so she asked when we would get to it no less than 15 times. ;) 


We were surprised we got to see one that close and she was a rare affectionate one that was loving on the zookeeper.  Hailey really liked her so it sparked an interesting conversation the next day about how to get one as a pet and now we all want to start our own zoo. :) We were there a total of about 3 hours and that was about perfect.  We saw everything and got to run off a lot of energy but not so long that the kids got too tired to enjoy it. 


Can you see the white tiger in the background? 



There were hundreds of birds flying around your head and landing on the stick of birdseed they gave you to feed them. They really liked shoelaces too. 

The 2 month old giraffe was cute to watch.  



After lunch it was about a 2 1/2 hour drive to Canfield to spend the night at the deer camp with the rest of the family.  Cap'n cooked his famous fried fish and we watched the LSU game while the cousins had more time to run around together.  They got to on several rides with their Dad's and Yaya and Cap'n so I know it was a perfect weekend for them. (Us too!) 
















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