This is officially my first blog entry. I've always journaled old-school style...you know, with the book and pen. Then, I realized I can't insert pictures into those journals, so thought I'd give this a whirl. Since I've never done one of these before, I thought I'd tell a little bit about myself, even though the only person who read this will probably be me. I'm the oldest of three sisters in the Shirley family. My two younger sisters are Christina, who is 28 and lives in Little Rock, and Rhyan, who is 22 and lives in Nashville. My wonderful husband, Brian, and I live in Bella Vista, Arkansas, and we have a beautiful three-year-old daughter Kayla Grace.
Here's a photo of my family we had taken a couple of weeks ago at an old barn here in Bella Vista.
My first blog entry, and most entries following, will involve Kayla Grace as she is our universe, and boy does she know it!
The first thing Kayla wanted to do when we got there was "ride a pony". She first rode a pony about a year ago at her friend Owen's birthday party and she LOVED it!
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The next thing we got to do was meet two baby male leopards, Rafiki and Matata. It was SO COOL because we actually got to go in the pen with them and pet them. Kayla wanted to take Rafiki's red ball, but I told her that probably wasn't a good idea, (you know...since he isn't declawed, isn't a house cat, and has a family history of killing things). The pen keeper-and the 20 people in line to pet the leopards-just thought that was hilarious!
Rafiki
Kayla petting Matata
Then we got to pet several different animals that weren't quite as exotic, but Kayla still thought were really cute, and in some cases REALLY overweight...
Kayla found a momma donkey that she loved so much, she decided to give her a big hug around her neck. The baby donkey didn't like all the attention momma was getting, and nosed Kayla from behind so he could get some toddler love as well.
Here are a few more snapshots I took of us.
Once we were done with the petting portion of the zoo, we went through the driving portion. It was amazing how close the animals got to the vehicles on the road and they weren't intimidated at all!
Suffice it to say, after our excursion at the safari, Kayla was exhausted. Before she konked out, she exclaimed, "Mommy, I can't wait to go home and tell Daddy about all the poop we saw!" It cracked me up, that the thing she took away was not that she got to pet 3 month old leopards, but by how much animals poop. Well, at least I know that it was an educational experience for our daughter!
There's one more thing I want to say before I depart. One of the things that Kayla is saying right now when we are doing something together is..."Mommy, you're my friend." She grabs my hand, looks up at me, and it melts my heart. That is one of those moments to treasure that I never want to forget...
