Day 28 - Alligators

The kids and I were determined to finish our school work early today so we’d have more free time during the afternoon.  So we were up at 7:00 am and doing our studies in our PJs.  We stopped for breakfast and then decided to enjoy an outing this morning and finish our school work in the afternoon.

We visited the Alligator Adventure today.  Its a small zoo-like park close to the condo that features alligators and other reptiles.  It is totally up Tyler’s alley.  The kids and I had visited once before when they were quite young but this was Scott’s first time.

It was a bit drizzly when we pulled in so I was relieved to know that a show was beginning soon in the covered education area.  We found our seats and really enjoyed all they had to teach us about alligators.

 

  

Its a fairly small park so we checked out the snakes and the giant tortoises.  Sammy even played chase with a couple of hyenas (literally, they would run back and forth with her).  Then we hammed it up for some fun pictures.

 

 We got back to the condo in time for lunch and then some more school work and projects.  Supper was a delicious chicken recipe that we all love so that went quickly too! 

Scott and I ran to WalMart to get a few things and then both kids opted to do some reading in order to earn a later bedtime.  Tyler and I caught an episode of one of our shows and then it was off to bed.

Alligator Adventure

As a friend told me "only a Yankee pays to see an alligator"... well its taken 7 years but today this Yankee broke down and took the kids to Alligator Adventure.  It is a 15 acre park featuring mostly alligators, but also monkeys, bats, turtles, parrots, and kangaroos.

When we first walked up, we decided to pose for a picture but he statue.  THEN we noticed, the monster turtle standing nearby.  These turtles grew to 600-800 pounds... the kids were very impressed.

Sammy loved posing next to the statues along the path.

The highlight was watching them feed the alligators.  Here are some of the fun facts we learned:

• Alligators do not eat during the colder months which is possible because their metabolism shuts down.  They can go an entire year without food if necessary.
• It takes 5 days to digest even the smallest amount of food so they are cyclical eaters and do not eat every day.
• They may only eat 50-70 lbs of food in an entire year.
• The can jump out of the water about 3/4 of their body length using only the force of their tail.
• After losing a tooth, another grows in within 5 days.  
• Alligators can go through 2000 teeth in a lifetime.