Which animal is your favorite?

Sam is taking classes towards his MBA, and three Saturdays a semester he has to spend in Columbia at the University of South Carolina. So this Saturday I decided to drive him up and take the kids to the zoon during his morning class, then we met him for lunch and were home in time for naptime (oh yeah, he carpooled back later).

The Columbia Zoo is an hour away, so this is the first time Susie saw big animals in real life.

Jimmy was in a great mood, and wanted his picture taken at every exhibit.

I love this one, with the giraffes in the background.

They have a platform where the kids can feed the giraffes. Susie had no fear of that massive black tongue, and jumped at the chance to be a "big kid".

We almost skipped the reptile house, since we go to the SC Aquarium so often, but it's a good thing we didn't, it was the only part of the zoo that Susie really took an interest in... I hope she understands that there is ZERO chance of us getting a pet snake!

Paradise

Need I say more? Sam and I took an adults only vacation to the Dominican Republic this winter. It was so nice to have the break. We were planning on trying for baby #3 in the spring, so we figured this was our chance to reconnect a little. Thank you to Paula and Tom (aka Gramma and Pop) for staying with the kiddos and helping them keep their schedules.

We chose The Excellance Punta Cana in DR, and we would go back again, no doubt about it! this resort is an adults-only, all-inclusive on the beach in Punta Cana. It had everything we needed and more!

The beach even had elevated king sized beds for lounging on during the day

Every dinner was special - the food was great, the tables crayon-free and we could eat anytime we wanted (we didn't have to get in before the rush and in time for baths and bedtime).

We took a tour of the area, which included stopping at a sugar cane plantation,

a cigar rolling demonstration,

and a chocolate and coffee farm. This fruit holds the pods from which chocolate comes.