Even though the  kids were the ones that should have been the most exhausted after watching a movie at night and  a long day at  Natural Bridge Caverns,  one of them woke up at 3 am and then woke up the others.  My friend and I woke up to prepare breakfast with eggs, bacon, and toast. After having a nice breakfast, we checked out and drove to Crane Mills park.

The older child always wanted to try fishing and camping. We stopped by the park to check this place out. The park is nearby Canyon Lake and it’s beautiful and peaceful.  The kids ran around, climbed up and down the rocks, and checked out people fishing.  Mom and dad enjoyed posting for each other with the nice view of Canyon Lake in the background.

After the park, we arrived at Natural Bridge Wildlife. It was a nice day in Spring for driving through the ranch to feed  the animals. They were so friendly and came so close to the window and ate from our hands. One of the horns stuck his big head inside my window and gently grabbed the entire bag of food. I learned not to roll the window down so low anymore.

Our friends’ car drove in front of us. The kids were brave to sit on the top of the sunroof from time to time.  They fed the  animals more often from their hands while we preferred to throw the food on the ground.

We saw so many animals up close such as ostriches, zebras, horns, antlers, and giraffes. We also saw a camel and a rhino from far away.

After the drive through, we parked the car and walked by to check out the giraffe barn. They came very close to the fence and reached out to the leaves from the trees. That is as close as it gets to seeing a  giraffe in my life. The area next to the giraffe barn, there were the Safari Trading Post gift shop, the habitat of the Ring-Tailed Lemurs, peacocks, peahens with their offspring, and Gibbons. The younger child's favorite part  was to spend time in the petting zoo. He loved petting, brushing, feeding little baby goats and sheep. If we had let him, he would have probably spent all day just doing that.

We finally had to drive home. Kids need their rest before going to school the next day.

It was a fun weekend for all of us. Even though it was not as romantic as it used to be, it was many  happy moments seeing the kids enjoy new experiences and building their friendships and memories of their own.