Our Family: October 2012

Had a fun little trip to Ft. Worth for Fall Break.

Geared up for a five hour drive.

We first stopped at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This is where they print our paper money. Millions of dollars a day are printed here. This is one of two locations. The other is in Washington, DC. This was a really neat tour, but they didn't allow cameras of any sort--not even cell phones. I was able to buy some money in the gift shop, though. Too bad it's shredded. :)

After we checked in to our hotel, we went out to In & Out Burger. It was good. I was most impressed by their staff--a lot like our Chick Fil A here in Bixby--top notch customer service. We finished the evening with some Braum's ice cream and a swim in the hotel pool.

Next morning we went to the zoo. The Ft Worth Zoo is the best zoo we've ever been to. We have visited a few times now. You get to see all the animals fairly close-up and they all seem active.

Cool white tiger.

Rams--this was neat.

There was an aviary with hundreds of parakeets and cockatiels. We had to take some pictures to bring home to show Kevin.

Really cool birds of prey exhibit. My new favorite bird is the Harpy Eagle (top right in this collage).

The building we ate lunch in had a window with an alligator (or was it a crocodile? bottom right) inches away from it. We sat at a table near by to eat our lunch. And then one of the walls was a big aquarium with fish, turtles, and gharials (relative to the crocodile).

Turtles swimming.

Awesome reptile building. You can see the head of the python here in my collage (top middle). He was SO huge! His body is the picture at the bottom right corner. There was also a king cobra (Lydia's favorite type of snake is the cobra), and an active viper. He was moving all around when I snapped a picture, but then wouldn't move for my video.

Viper (I think).

"No pictures, mom!"

"Oh, come on, just a few more!"

Some more videos -

Penguins

Gorilla

Really cute baby chimp.

We went out to On the Border for dinner that evening. The kids were admiring all the Mexican decor. I had to take Lydia to the restroom and commented that the stall was pretty small. She said, "Well, that's a Mexican bathroom!" Ha! She cracks me up! We got to enjoy the hotel pool and hot tub again that night.

Next morning, had some free hotel breakfast...

then went to the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens.

We didn't even see half the gardens. I wished I lived closer, so that I could visit this place more often. I was expecting it to be on par with our local Woodward Park in Tulsa, which is beautiful, but this one blows it away!