Birthday 3 - EXOTIC RESORT ZOO

With three birthdays in one week, the launch of a home-based preschool, and all other chaotic realities of a pandemic 6 months in, I decided that the PERFECT way to celebrate would be to drive an hour away to Johnson City for a drive-through zoo experience. Calling it a joint birthday party for Ethan and Mommy, we loaded 5 kids, 3 adults, and 5 bags of feed into 1 minivan and let the animals do the rest. We had animals poking heads in our windows, animals wrapping tongues around our fists, animals demonstrating the sound their horns make against my poor van's steel exterior, and so many laughs and memories built in between.

(Advance note to all blog readers who love and care for Debbie and Bluebell dearly: Jon gave me the birthday present of a clean van within hours of our return.)

What began as a safe van ride with kids in car seats and buckles turned into a no-rules situation when kids were at the wheel and walking around a moving, operating vehicle.

The goats were the first to greet us, but the camels definitely stole the show at the onset.

Who knew camels were so great at selfies?

Did I mention we had TWO camels in our van at the same time??

The drive continued with many more animal meet n' greets.

white elk

Zebras may appear closer than they are.

"Jacob's Sheep" have FOUR horns.

The llamas were certainly friendly.

These guys, called Scottish highlander cattle, were the grand finale at the end of our visit. Their humongously long tongues and their complete lack of eating inhibition provided some of our biggest laughter of the day.


We were all tired and pretty gross after our experience, and it was well worth it!

selfies with my masked babies on our way home

And in case you missed any moment, here is the brief highlight reel I made while the blog post was in publication: