The Lee Family: First DAY of Summer!

A few days ago, I suggested a fun first day of summer adventure and both girls agreed to a fun day at Fossil Rim Wild Animal Park, Dinosaur World, Dinosaur Valley State Park and ending with a visit to Big Rocks Park in Glen Rose. Of course, we also planned on a stop for ice cream or pie at Shoo Fly in the middle of Glen Rose. I told them I would wake them up at 7am and we would try to be on the road by 7:30am. Of course, that didn't exactly happen since when I took Buddy out for a quick morning walk in the neighborhood, our neighbor Mark's huge scary dog was out and asleep on the sidewalk. I quickly grabbed Buddy and ran back to the house. I woke up both girls and told them to get dressed and start in on breakfast and I'd walk Buddy across the street for 20 minutes. It all worked out, but we ended up leaving nearly an hour later than expected. I packed a small ice chest with sandwiches, drinks, snacks and also brought along every one of our water containers. I knew it would be hot and in past years, we've run out of water too soon. The girls and I have done this trip in years past, although we didn't go last year.

The drive was 1.5 hours and went smoothly. Both girls read their books and Olivia would tell me funny stories in her Magic Tree House books as she read. At one point, she said "Mom, did you know Venice, Italy is timeless?" so I asked her what that meant and she said "It means none of the clocks are right." Ha! I love it! We finally arrived at Fossil Rim and were there just 30 minutes after they opened. Part of the reason I wanted to get going early, was I knew with the hot day we would have a better chance of seeing the animals in the coolest part of the day and we also had plans to host our friends Chad and Desiree and their boys at our house for dinner at 6pm so we really needed to pack it all in. We paid our entrance fee and bought a bag of animal feed, and headed for the entrance. Since our last visit, the entrance has changed and they repaved all of the roads. Because of this, the route is slightly different and we no longer drive up to one of my very favorite vistas. But it was still a great drive. We drove through fields of Addax and Gazelles and tried to feed them. None of them were interested in the first field, but there were several in the second field who would come right up to us. We ended up behind two other cars, so we had to wait our turn, but the animals didn't fill up and were eager to take pellets from us. Of course, both girls really wanted to pet the animals, which they prefer you don't do, but they both were able to touch an Addax. Later we fed Blackbucks and Axis Deer and even a few White Tailed Deer that obviously figured out that living at Fossil Rim provided a lot of free food.

We continued on and were soon in the Giraffe and zebra field. Along the way were a lot of bossy European Red Deer and Fallow Deer. There was a group of zebra not far off the road, but none of them were interested in walking over to our car. We continued on and there was one giraffe standing maybe 10 feet off the road and three cars were pulled off the side waiting and hoping the giraffe would come over for some food. Feeding the giraffes in the highlight for both girls, but especially Olivia who adores giraffes. She doesn't really remember our last visit to Fossil Rim and she was beside herself as she saw the giraffes. Instead of continuing on the road and driving up to the visitor center, little petting zoo and vista, I turned left and continued on our adventure. There were three giraffes just ahead and I figured we had a better chance of convincing them to come eat our pellets now rather than later. I opened the sunroof and both girls stood up with handfuls of pellets and two of the giraffes came over! They were both so excited! The giraffes are super gentle, but also persistent in their desire for pellets, so soon both heads were completely in our car! Meanwhile, a very persistent European Deer was sticking his whole head in our side window trying to get food! I ended up rolling that window up, so we could focus on the giraffes. It was awesome! The giraffes hung out and ate for at least 10 minutes, until we were out of pellets. The girls loved it and we all agreed it was well worth the entire trip!

We continued on and saw the Cheetahs in their enclosures and then saw several Rhinoceros in their enclosures. Fossil Rim is very involved in repopulation and conservation, so several of the animals have their own enclosures and can't be fed. We didn't see any ostrich this time, and in years past they have always hung out by the exit. We finished our tour, the girls got strapped back into their seats and we stopped briefly to see some Bison in a field next to Fossil Rim and then headed to Dinosaur World.

Sofia is still a fan of dinosaurs and loves visiting Dinosaur World. Olivia and I just tried to keep up with her and stay in the shade. It was super hot! As we would approach a dinosaur, Sofia would shout out "Diplodocus"! I couldn't believe how she still remembers so many different kinds of dinosaurs! She also would explain, before we arrived at their placard, what era they lived in and what other dinosaurs lived at the same time. Her brain is amazing. We got to the halfway point and had a bag of fish food we'd bought when we paid for our entrance. The girls threw in a handful of fish food and the amount of koi was incredible! There suddenly was a solid section of koi swimming on top of each other to get to the pellets! We continued through the dinosaurs and ended at the playground. Both girls were hungry, so I grabbed our ice chest and we ate our lunches before heading over to Dinosaur Valley State Park.

We headed to our usual spot and the girls changed into their swimsuits in the car. We headed to the Paluxy River and the dinosaur tracks. The girls decided to take the "harder" way and slid down the side of the hill on a little trail, while I took the stairs and stepping stones across the river. The river wasn't nearly as full as our last visit, so it was really easy to get across. I had my swimsuit on under my shorts and shirt, but I was enticed by the mud and slow-moving water. The girls swam and played for a while and I took pictures of the dinosaur tracks, which are pretty amazing. I let the girls play for about 45 minutes and then told them we needed to keep moving. I've always thought it would be a lot of fun to camp at Dinosaur Valley State Park, but not during the summer. It really feels about 20 degrees hotter standing by that river! Thankfully today is only in the low 90s with little humidity, so it actually isn't as bad as it could be outside!

We parked at Big Rocks and the river was really low compared to our last visit. I really thought I'd swim, but there was no way I was getting into that smelly, warm water. The girls climbed on the rocks for a bit before heading to the water and the deepest of the water holes. Sofia announced it smelled "like farts" and we took off! I would say that it actually smelled worse, but I was just thankful we didn't have to spend an hour there. We decided to stop at Shoo Fly for some homemade ice cream after our last stop at Big Rocks so the girls wouldn't have to change into suits twice. The ice cream was really good, although the best part about it was the air conditioning and the cold of the ice cream! The girls found a unicorn and mermaid squashy toys, so we got those and headed on our way after sitting at the soda fountain with our ice creams. The girls changed into dry clothes in the car and we headed home! It was such a fun and busy day but it's always such a great way to kick of summer.

Our first Addax