The Jones Family Junction: A blast at the Zoo!

You can't BELIEVE how past my bedtime it is tonight ... and here I am uploading pictures on this crazy blog!!! I think Mr. Jones is right ~ I am addicted to this little journal! Plus, I've had a whole bunch of issues with the internet tonight and have no guarantee whatsoever that I will be able to publish this once I'm finished ... AND right now, I am unable to move pictures around like I usually do once they've been uploaded so the order is ALL MESSED UP! This will no doubt drive me crazy ~ but having said all of that, I did want to show you our day at the John Ball Zoo. So hang on tight and try to follow!

These photos are of Jackson and Karis playing on the wooden train while they wait for their mom and dad to do the Sky Trail ... Olivia and I did the Sky Trail after Andrew and Sabrina had tested it out!

Sabrina and Andrew waving good-bye to the little kids, going down the ramp to the Sky Trail.

See how they are wearing harnesses? That's because this is kind of like a rope obstacle course and it's kind of high up off the ground ... it would kind of do damage to your body if you slipped and fell ...

The Flowers at the park ~

I was going to intermingle these flower photos here and there throughout this post, but they will NOT BUDGE from where I have originally put them, so here they all are at once!

So gorgeous!

Our Adventures at the Zoo!
We talked it over for a long time today and just could not make up our minds which was the BEST part of our day at the zoo. Was it the Zip line?! Or how about the Stingrays?!!! Or perhaps riding the camel? Or doing the ropes at the Sky Trail?

Karis voted for touching the Stingrays ... look at her precious little face after she FINALLY touched one! Watching these creatures glide and fly through the water was almost overwhelmingly beautiful ... and touching them was ... well they are the softest creatures I have ever felt! Cold and sleek, but very very soft and slippery too! We also got to touch two shark that were kind of sleeping at the other end of the pool right here with the Stingrays. They felt like sandpaper on their tails! Isn't that cool? Isn't God just beyond cool? I have more pictures of the Stingrays somewhere on this blog ... out of order, naturally.

Here are a few general pictures of the zoo ~ and by the way, the John Ball Zoo was about the worst zoo EVER when my boys were little. I was completely amazed at how they have fixed it up and added such fun stuff to do!

Doesn't it look like a jungle out here?

Jackson and Karis playing the bongos ...

The above picture is the little kids watching Olivia and I get OFF our camel, after our ride. Yes! I rode on a camel AGAIN! I rode a camel over in Israel and was scared to death ~ I made Sabrina get on the back of it to keep me from falling off! Today, Olivia rode on the front and I rode on the back. We cracked up while doing it ~ what a bumpy ride!

I took the above picture pointing the camera over Olivia's shoulders ... the pictures of us actually on top of the camel are somewhere farther down on this post ... how annoying that I can't fix the order!

Jackson riding "Angel" with his daddy. The other camel, "Sassy" was taking a nap.

Some pretty amazing animals!

An iguana ...

A great penguin exhibit ... I had no idea they talked so loud!

A lovely flamingo ...

Shark!

These are a variation of a llama, but smaller I think and called something like a Gnuamo (but I've spelled it incorrectly) ...

Magnificent beasty tiger!

Queen of the beasts ...

A very cool blue frog ... he probably has an official scientific name but I didn't write it down and have forgotten it!

Jackson petting a pygmy goat ...

Cutie Karis enjoying herself HUGELY!

So cute!

Back to the camels ... I would like to introduce you to "Angel." She was a very bumpy ride ...

I can't tell you WHEN I have had more fun!

And here we are back at the Stingray pool ... you have to put almost your whole arm in the water as deep as you can and just stay really really STILL. The stingrays are trained to come up to a person's arm and just brush against it. It is amazingly wonderful to feel these incredible animals!

Oh my! I bet you didn't see that Olivia was WAY UP HIGH in that bunch of trees did you? Well look again very carefully ... do you see her? She is on a zip line way above the trees ... like a monkey!

Olivia went first because she was the bravest! And then it was my turn! YES! I did the zip line. It was such a blast!

OK. I'll be truthful. I was scared stiff! I love heights ... I just do not like speed combined with heights and I didn't expect it to go this fast! I screamed all the way down!

That's me up there! Isn't that hysterical? I was screaming and laughing at the same time!

A cute picture of Andrew and Sabrina all harnessed up and ready to take on the ropes!

Back on the wooden train with Jackson ...

Olivia and I did the Sky trail too ... so here are a few pictures of that ...

Being with grandchildren makes kind of a kid out of me!

That was SO MUCH FUN!

We went shopping at the gift shop on the way out ... little Karis picked out a whale hat and called it "Shamu" even though we were no where NEAR Sea World! She loves Shamu!