Animal Kingdom

My sister Shelley (Aunt Shell) is in town for her med school Spring break, and yesterday we all headed up to Disney's Animal Kingdom for the day.

We couldn't have asked for better weather- mid 70s and sunny with a breeze!

Avery wanted to get in this "frar" by himself, but he was a little too short.

Family pic!

Avery loved running through all the zoo-like areas. Here he's looking at exotic birds. These and the monkees ("oohhahhs") were probably his favorite.

Getting tired and letting/making Aunt Shell hold us for a bit.

Avery loved riding the choochoo train ("foofoo") and would have probably done it all day if we'd let him.

Saying hello to a warthog at the petting zoo...

Avery and I were both unable to ride the big rides, so while Phil and Shelley used their fast passes for Everest and Dinosaur, the two of us rode this triceratops ride. Avery was a little unsure at first and kept saying "No. All done. No. All done." as we got buckled in for the first time. He held on to mom pretty tight the first time, but afterwards wanted to do it again and again. Thankfully the line was pretty short. We did it twice by ourselves, and then Phil and Shelley joined us for our final ride.

Our last attraction for the day was the safari ride, and everyone got to ride together. Avery got to see giraffes ("affes") up close, one of his favorites, as well as lions ("yayas") and elephants.

After leaving the park, we headed over to Downtown Disney to meet Aunt Mary Jo, Uncle Terry, Krista, and Angela (Kentucky family!) for dinner at Wolfgang Puck's. The food was great, and it was really nice to see everyone. Avery, despite not having napped all day and running through the park, didn't want to sit long and spent his time outside dancing and looking at the lights and waterfalls at the surrounding shops and restaurants. We took turns eating and chasing after him. Hence, why I didn't get a good group picture of everyone. :(

It was a great time all around, but we were all more than happy to climb into bed after such a long day!