Upon A Dream: A Great Summer Saturday

Weeks ago at the end of June we had a wonderful Saturday spent driving out to the Forever Wild Animal Sanctuary. It's a little over an hour drive from our home but back in the Spring when I saw a Groupon for it online I knew it would be something the girls would both enjoy. It also included the chance to feed the wild animals so that was a major plus as well.

We got there early because it was warm and we wanted get done before it got too hot!

The park is pretty small but the animals there were amazing and although it was a bit sad to see them in cages it was nice to know that this place was there to save and help animals that are normally killed or just left to die because the previous owners eventually realize it's too expensive to care for an exotic animal or there is just no need for them anymore.

When it was time to feed the animals we got to choose 2 animals each, hubby knows I love animals so he let me have his two feedings so I got to choose 4. I chose two tigers because they were beautiful and I had to choose the black bear because as soon as he saw me walk over he climbed up on his cage and was ready to eat even though I was walking to the other animals. I just couldn't disappoint him.

The first three animals did not seem scary and were rather calm taking the meat off the feeding stick but my last choice was the mountain lion. She was hiding out in her house and I asked if I could feed her so I could see her. The lady said sure we can try and get her out but the lion was not happy that we were waking her. She came out hissing and growling. She was a little scary but honestly she was the prettiest cat there. I was glad I woke her up so I could see how pretty she was that close and I was happy she couldn't eat me.

When it was the girls turn they both wanted to feed the lion. We were told we could not take pictures of her because she did not like it. She was huge and so pretty! Kayla fed her first and then when Brooklyn tried to feed her she was mad and would not come over she just paced back and forth and then went to sit as far away as she could.

After trying to feed her for quite sometime Brooklyn finally decided to try the black panther instead. The panther was the calmest cat there I think, I even noticed later while we were there the owner walk into her cage and pet her like no big deal.

Brooklyn's next choice was the cute monkey. We all loved the way it so gently grabbed the grape off of the feeding stick it was adorable to watch it eat as well.

After feeding the lion Kayla chose to feed the crocodile. I can't say I was excited to watch this one because they are just plan scary looking! Also if you noticed the kids were only allowed to feed the animals that had a double fence around them that way there is no way for them to walk up and put their hands near the cage or reach in because we all know they would lose a finger or two and I will say it was hard for me not to want to pet those beautiful tigers being so close to them. I'm pretty sure they would've liked me and not have eaten me though!

After we were all done with the feedings we walked around again and took another look at all our favorite animals before we were ready to head back home. It was getting hotter and we had seen all there was to see so it was time to go.

On our way back home we made a stop to visit my brother and his family, they had just moved into their new home and it is only 20 minutes away from us.

My nephew showed us around and then the kids explored the big backyard. They have a ton of fruit trees and they made fresh grapefruit mojitos which were perfect for us to cheers to their new home.