Spring Break 2010 - Let the fun begin!

Spring Break officially started on Friday and the Barker family kicked off the week of fun and festivities with a trip to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. I love this zoo - great animals, clean, lots of activities for big kids and little kids. Here are some of my favorites:

Feeding the giraffes~

They have very scruffy faces and they back away from your hand unless you have lettuce in it. When they eat out of your hand it is very gentle. There is a sweet new baby that was born during the big snow storm in February that is cute, cute, cute. I love him. All babies are cute right, even ones that are 5ft 7in when born. Notice below the baby can't peek over the rail yet.

But mama has no problem eating from above...

Riding in this tiny train~

I think I feel like a giant squeezed in to this caboose, but the kids see it as something HUGE. They love riding again and again. Conor and Jude especially enjoyed this "big kid" ride.

Horseback riding~

Seriously, this is the answer to every kids daydream. Who didn't want to ride horses growing up? Just to experience this alone is priceless....

The botanical gardens~

Brett and I appreciate this more than the kids (they were ready to get back to the animal part) but the zoo does an awesome job maintaing these botanical gardens. And the in season, in bloom tulips blew me away. Tulips are still my favorite flower.

I can't wait to see what excitement the rest of the week brings....

Happy Spring Break!