A few weeks ago, I came across a Groupon to an exotic animal park in Oklahoma that appeared to let you interact with the animals. We’ve been to a couple big cat sanctuaries and this one sounded similar, except that it was run by a redneck who didn’t seem to be concerned with things like liability insurance. I bought the Groupon and we headed up to Ardmore on Sunday evening so that we could be at the Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park first thing on Presidents’ Day morning.

It rained all night Sunday so there was mud everywhere. It was also rather chilly — at least compared to the 70-80 degree weather we had been experiencing. Carter is convinced it’s summer and failed to heed my advice to pack warm clothes, including a jacket. Fortunately, I had an extra sweatshirt for him.

Our tour started in front of one of the big tiger enclosures with a long explanation of how the “zoo” started, as well as their breeding philosophy — it was very anti-regulation and involved breeding as many “mut” big cats as possible before PETA makes it illegal to do so. Did I mention we were in rural Oklahoma? It really showed during the lecture. Our tour guide swore like a sailor and said a lot of things that sounded more conspiracy theory than science! But he kept us entertained by interacting with the cats through the fences.

We were not allowed to take cameras on the tour because they didn’t want any animal rights activists recording their secrets. Instead, we were allowed to purchase a CD of photos that their photographer took — for a mere $30. We were going to be playing with a tiger cub, so of course we gave-in to the blackmail, but the photos weren’t that great.

The first photo-op was with a quarter horse (not real exotic there).

Next, we made our way over to Cleatis the kissing camel. We let Daddy go first on that one!

Raine and Carter both opted to hold their cookie out on their hand rather than their lips.

I really wanted to hold it in my hand too, but I succumbed to peer pressure and attempted the kiss. I was so tentative though that I ended up dropping the cookie before Cleatis got too close!

We saw several more big cats including a territorial lion and a sneaky black leopard. Then we came to the wolf enclosure. As we approached, our tour guide opened the gate and welcomed us all inside. It took a little will-power to walk inside that cage. After all, the whole point of a cage is to keep the animals away from humans, right?

The kids loved petting the wolves. Unfortunately, they didn’t get a photo of Carter, but you can see the joy on Raine’s face.

Our next adventure included holding all sorts of little varmint. First was some variety of skunk.

Next was a weasel.

Then an albino skunk of the same variety as the brown skunk.

This little kinkajou was supposed to sit on Raine and Carter’s shoulders but instead, it climbed right up over the top of Raine’s head!

Last was a ferret.

Finally, it was time to play with a 7-week old tiger cub named Merlin.

The photos don’t really do justice to the experience. We played with Merlin for at least a half hour. He climbed up into Raine’s lap. He climbed up onto my lap, trying to escape, and I got to hold and hug him. We fed him a bottle. It was awesome!

Here are a few photos that I took as we walked around the big cat cages before and after our tour (when I could take my own photos).

Carter loved these face-cutout boards.

On our way home, we stopped at 2 Frogs Grill for a late lunch. The purple leopard print walls went right along with our exotic animal day.

This weekend was the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo finals night. Daddy and I decided to go by ourselves this time since the kids, especially Raine, didn’t appreciate it last year. We started the evening with BBQ at Railhead Smokehouse — is was D-E-L-I-S-H, definitely the best barbecue we’ve ever had!

We didn’t have the best seats, but we had a great view of the most exciting events — bareback, saddle bronc, and bull riding. This rodeo features the best cowboys and cowgirls in the world, it’s a very exciting show.

Carter decided to buy himself a skateboard yesterday. He got a great deal, paying only $7.50 at Academy Sports.

He has gotten the hang of it fairly quickly — just needs to figure out how to turn.

We all had Monday off work/school for Martin Luther King Day so we went to local roller rink to rollerblade!

Carter wanted to learn how to skate backward:

We also hit Jason’s Deli and the library, where Raine made this paper dragon.

December 22 – finishing some Christmas shopping at the Galleria.

December 27, Daddy took the kids to Urban Air trampoline park.

Carter loved the jousting. Here is a video of Raine vs Carter as well as Raine on the obstacle course.

On December 28 we spent the day at Mountasia, enjoying the warm, windy weather. I took the wide-angle and fish-eye lenses for my cellphone that DJ gave me for Christmas so I got some photos with all of us in it, like this one on the go-carts.

Raine loves the climbing wall.

She made me climb with her; I’m on the easiest wall and she’s on the hardest.

Kids vs parents flag football game on January 1. The kids were winning (we were at a disadvantage because their flags are a whole lot lower than our hands) when the game came to an abrupt end due to Raine skinning her knee on the sidewalk.

The kids did a lot of rollerblading over the holiday break. On January 2 they convinced me to go with them to the parking lot at the school. Carter let me ride his scooter since I don’t have rollerblades.

We had some gorgeous weather over the break. The kids made me dig out their shorts so they didn’t sweat too much while playing outside!

Our Christmas-Eve-party turned News-Year-Eve-party was a blast. We started with dinner that included make-your-own quesadillas, tacos, nachos, and tamales.

Here are most of the younger kids: back row: Carter, Raine, Cade, Boston, middle row: Harvey, Hudson, Avery, front row: Penelope and Nora, missing: Alice and Frost

I took a couple terrible photos during various events but didn’t warn people that I was taking them!

Playing twister with Carter, Jordyn, Matt, Hudson, Boston, Cade, and Nathan

Getting ready for the white-elephant gift exchange. Kathleen and Matt Sweeney; DJ; Kara, Hillary and Bryan Boyer; Rauchelle Richey (Troy was on stair duty)

James and Ashley Walker; Jessica and Evan Eastman

I stole this white-elephant gift during the game, it needs to be framed on my wall!

The kids had fun wacking the pinata.

After the pinata, the kids played the left-right game.

Melt-downs started shortly after 8:00 and everyone was gone by 8:30, that’s how it goes with the under-5 crowd!

Early Christmas morning . . . the kids were fast asleep while Daddy and I sat impatiently on the couch, waiting for them to awake.

Round about 8:00 Carter finally rolled out of bed and, seeing the wrapping paper covering the archway at the end of the hall, realized that it was Christmas morning. He quickly woke up Raine so they could open their presents.

Raine joined the ranks of non-believers this Christmas. At least to a degree she did, I think deep-down she still wants to believe. For example, she really wanted an elf-on-the-shelf and bugged me for one incessantly. I think they are creepy and have no desire to “keep up” with one. During one of her badgerings I said, “I wouldn’t even know where to buy one.” She quickly piped up, “you don’t buy them, you just put a bowl full of saltwater in front of your chimney and one comes.” I just looked at her with one eyebrow raised, waiting for her to realize the absurdity of that statement if, in fact, there really was no Santa. But she didn’t see the irony so I didn’t push it.

In an effort to “test” Santa, to see if he was real, Raine left him a letter with questions about the North Pole. Daddy and I had no idea she had done it; good thing we noticed it sitting there late Christmas Eve. One of the questions she asked was “how big is the North Pole?” The answer she received was pure genius — “about 10 inches in diameter.”

Carter and Raine both asked for Rollerblades for Christmas.

I convinced them to give Daddy a pair of Rollerblades so that they would have someone to go out with them.

Raine asked for rope this year. She didn’t explain what she would use it for, she just wanted rope, so Santa brought her a climbing rope and harness since she LOVES to rock climb. She was thrilled with that. Carter gave her a nice notebook and mechanical pencils for all her writings. She obviously liked the gift.

Our Ward doesn’t meet until 2:30 so we had plenty of time to open presents, eat monkey bread, and play with the new toys before getting ready for church.

Our usual Christmas Eve party had to be postponed this year because Carter had hand-foot-mouth disease (a first for any of us). Instead, we spent a leisurely day at home.

Carter is demonstrating a candy cane.

12/2 Colleyville Tree Lighting Celebration

Raine and I went for a carriage ride (Carter didn’t want to go so he and Daddy played carnival games).

Awkward family photo with Santa!

12/3 was a very busy day . . .

First was the Lion’s Club Breakfast with Santa.

Next was the Richey Christmas Cookie Run (I didn’t get any photos from the “run” but here is Raine and I in our t-shirts).

Finally, we decorated the Christmas tree (this is the first year that we have used our fake one instead of buying a real one).

12/15 School Christmas parties

It’s still a mystery to me why Carter’s class room-mom thought it would be a good idea to feed doughnuts and marshmallows to a room full of 1st graders and then give them all a whistle, but that’s what she did. It was raucous!

Daddy, Carter, and Me at Ms. Feaster’s class party.

Ms. Feaster’s class. Carter is standing up, the second child to the left of Ms. Feaster.

Raine’s class party was much quieter; they each tied a fleece pillow.

Ella, Me, Raine, and Daddy at Ms. Seifried’s class party.

The girls of Ms. Seifried’s class. Raine is in the top-right corner.

12/17 Ward Christmas party

It took some serious bribing to get Carter to sit on Santa’s lap!!!

10/11 – Carter and Spencer playing math games.

10/13 – Carter’s class doing body-spell, Carter is on the right side next to the girl in the pink shirt.

10/15 Fall Festival – Carter shooting arrows with a bow.

10/15 Fall Festival – Raine loved the money cube, she collected coupons for things like a no-shoes day.

10/15 Fall Festival – Raine making a wax hand.

10/17 – Carter labeling bones in PE — Carter is right in the middle, striking a pose.

10/25 Red Ribbon Week – crazy hair day

10/26 Red Ribbon Week – mix-match day

10/26 Red Ribbon Week – Carter’s class on Mix-Match day — Carter is the 3rd from the right, in the back.

11/1 – Carter’s class celebrating the 50th day of school — Carter is in the middle, in the back.

11/4 – Carter’s class listening to a shared reader — Carter is in the middle in a black and grey striped hoodie.

11/5 – Carter got a spelling award that included a free kids-meal at BJ’s. The manager came to our table and made a big deal about his award. She even gave him an Awesome Achiever pin.

11/5 – The whole fam at BJ’s.

11/10 – Carter’s class making math sentences with their jackets — Carter is third from the left on the front row.

11/29 – Carter’s class did a writing assignment about Santa getting stuck in a chimney.

11/30 – Author Aaron Reynolds (“Caveboy Dave” and “Nerdy Birdy”) came to visit the school. Each grade level met with him. Raine got to ask him a question — she is up front in the purple shirt. She asked if he had any pets. Carter got an autographed copy of “Creepy Carrots.”