Out and About

On Sunday the weather was kind of crappy so Todd figured the surf would be good...and it was. If you can take your eyes off of the other gentleman, Todd is about to stand up!

Todd and Luke and a big rock.

The water looks calm here, it was anything but...scary to me!

Luke Ragas and Luke Skywalker LOVE the beach!

Uh-oh might have lost the light saber...don't panic.

Here I am no my new wind surfer, first time taking it out but I did pretty good. If you believe that  first let me thank you and then laugh in your face!

Here we have the trifecta: Todd surfing (little dot on bottom right), wind surfer (not me) and parasailers.

Todd's leg, arm and head...lets all take a moment to admire my photography.

I think he was checking for the perfect wave!

Best kid ever!!!!!

Take a moment to switch gears...
Today I rewarded Luke for not even attempting to take a nap by having a mother son adventure to the Big Cat Habitat in Sarasota. Don't judge, sometimes you just have to go to the Big Cat Habitat.  This fellow greeted us first thing...he was HUGE!!!!

So happy to be there...and not sleeping.

Honestly, what are they feeding their bears? Should I be concerned that I had to sign a waiver before entering????

I feel like this Capuchin monkey and I could have chilled together.  

Tortoises?! Tortoise?! Tortoisii?! What is the plural of tortoise??????

This was my favorite part of the day! For a couple of dollars you could feed chunks of meat to the lions and tigers. They LOVED it. 

This guy was ready...

Check out that tongue...

The picture doesn't do justice but this tiger had the most beautiful eyes!

The lion was the favorite to feed...his cage mate is a real life liger. Not just from Napoleon Dynomite!

This picture will probably haunt my dreams tonight!

Can anyone say liger without laughing?? Poor animals, they are really fantastic looking.

This guy did not like me. He was a "special needs" cat, a product of inbreeding, who walked with a limp. I wanted to get a pic of him taking a drink and after a few snaps he looked right at me, growled and charged the fence. Moving on...

I am pretty sure this tiger, the Capuchin monkey and myself could have spent the afternoon at the beach with a couple Mai Tais!  

After being awe struck my all the huge carnivores we headed to Luke's favorite area-the petting zoo! This was quite a change from last summer at the goat farm where he panicked because a baby goat jumped on him.  

Can anyone say "goat charmer?"

What is going...??Is that what I think...??Ooooohhhh...!!No way...!!Let me capture this moment  with my camera. Come on...you would've done it too.

Not sure how far camels can spit but I am pretty sure I was within range...
While we did have a fun little afternoon, I always feel so bad for these animals. They had some "naturalish" habitats built but the large animals had to take turns in them while most of the time they were inside tiny (but clean) cages. Most were rescues so they never knew life in the wild but it is still sad to see amazing creatures behind bars. Excuse the cheesy jail reference. One lady  who worked there explained that there are more tigers in Texas than found anywhere else in the wild. Crazy Texans...