Bayou Wildlife Park

 It's Fathers Day weekend and last year I was crafting away making all sorts of special things for Daddy. With this move I have been lucky to get the house in order and so I have been slacking a little with my normal celebrations. I wanted to make this weekend special so I dug into my "save this" email pile to see if there was anything I could dig up for us to do. I found an email about the Bayou Wildlife Park in Alvin, Tx and realized that we are now even closer to it. So at 9:00 am I told Kevin and Jack to pack up that we were heading out in 30 minutes! We got on the road to some very dark skies and rain, which wasn't ideal for my plans ahead...however I took the chance and we kept driving. 

We stopped at the dollar store to get a few things for our wildlife adventure, I even found some kid binoculars! 40 minutes later and we were at the park! (He doesn't look excited in this picture, but he was!)

Its $18 for adults and $9 for kids (2 and under are free) and its cash only. Feed is $2.50 per bucket. We only purchased one bucket and it lasted the entire time we were there. 

They open at 10 am and close at 4 pm. Open year round and while they don't have a concession stand you can bring your own lunch if you wish. 

Once you arrive there are immediately friends there to greet you and beg for the bucket you just purchased.

After a careful drive past the eager emu you park and wait for your turn to board the one of several trams.

 We sat with a fun family from the heights (if you watched the Bravo show 9 by Design, this family was identical to them, ha!) and their two boys along with Jack got front row deck seating! The tram ride is about 45 mins and has a guide that pulls you along and tells you about all the animals.

I didn't know what to expect but this place was amazing, hands down one of the coolest things I have done in Houston (and I keep us pretty busy!). If you live in Houston you must make the drive to Alvin, Tx to check this out!It was nothing like a zoo where the animals are back in the corner and sit there. 

These animals were out and about at every turn you made!

 after a short wait , we were on board and ready to go!

 Wow, this was SO cool!

 Heading over to check out the pony stable, which is free, each kid gets one free pony ride. We asked Jack if he wanted to ride and he said yes and even told us the color horse he wanted. He was so excited and he did SO good. Kevin and I were a little nervous and repeatedly told him to please hold on and don't fall off. So when he got back from riding he told us "I held on, I did NOT fall". 

So cute and so neat to add another first to the book! 

 

There were so many different animals and most all of them came up to the tram. Up close and personal...in your face demanding food! It was awesome! Jack really wanted to see alligators, so thank gosh they had a few to show him! 

 The petting zoo with a close up of the giraffes

 and in case you loved an animal so much....the gift shop sells the REAL DEAL!!

After a wonderful morning (no rain and beautiful dark clouds that kept it cool outside) we stopped over to Joe's Bar-b-q and it was delish! Any place that has fried okra is A-ok with us! 

Fathers day calls for celebration and there isn't a better way to do it than cobbler with blue bell ice cream (and its self serve, even better)!!

 Jack loved the beans and so when I told him it was time for ice cream he couldn't decide what he wanted to eat...beans or ice cream, so our child decided to eat beans AND ice cream. He thought it was so funny, he was laughing as he put a bean on his cone and then would eat it. Gross! But he thought it was delish.

 And so here is his bean / ice cream face, ha!

Kevin is continuing his weekend with golf tomorrow, so I think he would say this has been one great Fathers Day weekend!

We love you Daddy more than fried okra, alligators and bean ice cream :) What a fun day!