Murrells Inlet in November

About a month ago I had a few extra days off work so I decided to pack the family up and drive down to visit my sister.  With everything going on with getting our house on the market this past summer / fall, I realized that I had not been to visit her since July 4th.  Eeekkkkk - sorry Amy!

Typically we avoid the beach in the colder months.  We usually visit Amy in the warmer months and she usually visits us in the colder months.

One of the things we decided to do was re-visit the REDNECK ZOO.  OMG - that place is just as I remember.  Ridiculous!

Poor Stella - she is VERY skittish around animals.  She HATES them!  Obviously, I didn't realize just how much until we arrived at my sister's house and she saw her two little pugs.  Stella literally jumped out of her own skin.  She was terrified of two little pugs.  Unfortunately the dogs had to be put up the entire time we were there.  If she even heard them bark, she literally would jump up and run to me begging to be picked up.

With that said, I don't know why I thought it would be a great idea to go back to the REDNECK ZOO.  With every "BAA", "OINK", "RAWR", she would start screaming and trying to run away.  The best part was when we were looking at two HUGE black bears, she was totally calm.  Then, she hears and sees a little squirrel several feet away eating a nut and freaks out!  Steve and I couldn't help but laugh.  Oh the irony!

And because it's a REDNECK ZOO, they give you peanuts to feed the animals.  Well, who knew peacocks loved peanuts?  Poor Stella - she was harassed by a peacock the entire time we were there.  That peacock followed us around the entire zoo.  He never came too close, but it was certainly close enough for Stella.  She hated that peacock!  Every time she looked behind her, it was there.  Once again, Steve and I just laughed.  Lottie loves animals so much and always has.  I guess this confirms that we will not be getting a pet anytime soon!

This place is so ridiculous!!!!!!!!  I have never seen so many kiddy toys being used by animals!  This monkey had his own little playhouse!  :)

Stella running away from the peacock crying!  :)

This monkey hit the jackpot - he got his very own Jeep!

My sweet nephew!  I swear he never stops smiling!  He is such a great baby!  

We are not sure if this deer was part of the zoo or not, but my sister was almost able to hand feed it.  So cute!

Inbred ZONKEY

The majority of the time spent at my sister's house was playing with the kids, doing art projects, cooking, playing dominoes and going on walks.  We even squeezed in an hour or so on the beach.  

Thanks Aunt Amy for letting us stay and play!  

xoxo

The Redneck Zoo

So, do you remember a couple of weeks ago when my sister kept Lottie for the weekend while Steve and I attended a wedding in Charleston?  During that time, my sister took Lottie to Waccatee Zoo (only a few minutes from her house) and exclaimed what a great place it was and how much Lottie loved it. 

Being as I had a couple of extra days off work with the DNC in town, I stayed an extra day at my sister's house and decided to revisit this zoo my sister kept going on about. 

Let me just start by saying that I have never seen ANYTHING like this place in my life.  It was the MOST redneck zoo (not sure they should even be calling this place a zoo) Steve and I have ever seen.  Immediately when we pulled up, Steve and I looked at one another and said, "Where the heck are we?"  That was before we even got out of the car. 

The cost was $9.00 for Adults and $4.00 for kids.  For a large bag of peanuts which my sister insisted on us getting was $6.00 (mind you the peanuts were in a zip lock freezer bag). 

The only real way to describe this place is through photos.  It is RUN DOWN.  They have old plastic kid's toys that they've thrown in the cages for the animals to "play" with.  And they've got this one eyed dog they keep caged up that all the rednecks point to saying how cute he is.....He's got ONE EYE and the MANGE people!!  These poor animals are fed peanuts and hay all day - must be the worst diet ever!  And towards the end of our walk we saw an alligator, but being as it was SC and the reddest zoo ever, I'm not sure whether that gator was meant to be there or he just happened to show up. 

The best part - they've got some INBRED animals - that's right, a ZONKEY (Zebra & Donkey)

R.I.P. Bubba

Another strange inbred donkey and horse combo!  He had some major insecurites and hid his face the majority of the time.

 

Classic example - he managed to get a plastic playhouse in his cage!

Yep - that's a VERY large black bear in a VERY small cage - so sad!

The bear managed to snag a tire swing in his cage

Again, so sad to keep an animal this large in a very small area, not to mention, his neighbors are goats - how's that for a tease?

Poor Poor tiger, his neighbors were those god awful annoying monkeys!

Even the swans eat Peanuts!  Who knew?

One tired little girl could barely walk / keep her head up after a couple of hours

Last but certainly not least, the ZONKEY

That about sums up our trip to the Redneck Zoo.  The next time you are in the Garden City / Myrtle Beach area, I highly recommend you check this place out - if for nothing other than the pure shock of it all!

England 2012 (Part 3) A Day at the Zoo

Gosh, I can't remember the last time I visited the zoo - it must have been when I was 12 or 13 years old.  As a family, we'd always make the trek to Asheboro or Columbia once a year.  Hopefully Steve and I can carry on that tradition with our little family.

We made plans with one of Steve's good friend - Richard, his wife Vickie and their adorable little boy Matthew (almost 2 years old) before we left for England to take a trip to Twycross Zoo.  I was so pumped!  Lottie is really into books right now and almost all of her books have animals in them.  She absolutely adores BEARS (don't ask...) and thinks everything is a bear.  She points at all the animals in her books and says Bear!  BEAR - another one of her first words!  Hilarious! 

Unfortunately, there were no bears at this zoo!  :(  As I said in a previous post, the weather was pretty chilly while we were over.  Me being Mom of the Year didn't bring Lottie's heavy coat (Idiot) so we resorted to a lot of layering and blankets when we were out and about. 

We met Rich, Vickie and their son Matthew at 11:00 a.m. and from there we started exploring...............

When we first walked through the gate.......

Monkeys

Check out this little cutie!!  So sweet!

This Monkey was enjoying a cucumber!

I can't even remember what this was.......  some sort of strange breed.....

Lottie checking out the donkeys which I called mini ponys and got quickly corrected by a laughing Steve saying those are donkeys Tonya - come on!  :)

Bear, Bear, Bear

It's a Giraffe (in a cage), no but in a really small area!

Look Dada!

I'm not sure if it was just me, but I thought the elephants and giraffes were kept in pretty tight quarters. 

Family Portrait

Take two........

Lottie's future English boyfriend!!!  They were so sweet!

Yes, my child is wearing no shoes - pretty sure she ripped them off and may or may not have tried feeding them to the animals

Penguins

No Clue - Fox breed?????

Matthew and Vickie

HUGE turtles

After all the excitement, this little lady was tuckered out!

But she's back.........  Tea time at the cafe!

We had such a blast with Rich, Vickie and Matthew!  They are such a sweet family.  After a long day, we headed for the gift shop.  Steve bought Lottie an elephant toy!

I am so looking forward to another visit to the zoo - hopefully we can make it to Columbia later this year! 

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