You know what? Drive through “zoos” make a LOT of sense in the blazing hot summer time! Why, you may ask? Well, if you’ve ever gone to see the animals and walked and walked and walked all around a zoo, all the while pouring sweat and trying your derndest to keep yourself from getting dehydrated, then you know what I’m sayin’. We didn’t have to deal with that here because for a good part of the time we were there, we were riding around in our nice air conditioned truck to see the animals. Ah. For the last part, we got out and walked through the petting zoo – and then let the kids play on the playground that looked like a set of WAY cool pirate ships!

The first thing we noticed when we pulled through the area [just after noticing the big large signs that told us "ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!". All I could think of was Jurassic Park, for Jake's sake!!], there were all these Emus that came straight up to us at the truck. So great, hubby and myself are both already thinking about dinosaur parks gone wrong when we see these HUGE HONKIN’ BIRDS tromping our way! We just barely got our windows rolled up in time. I’m pretty sure that they were going to give us the motherload of mega hen pecks. Actually, no, I bet [in retrospect] that they just wanted to eat…[us?]…some food from our buckets. They are used to this thing, afterall, and know that when they see vehicles roll in – it means Chow Down Time, of course! I was kinda intimidated by these creatures, but I also thought it was so cool to see them up so close! Really, I preferred to have the glass between us, and so did Corey, for that matter. At one point, an Emu came out of nowhere on his side and freaked the living snozzburgers outta him! This the result after that moment:

Heh heh, yeeeeeah buddy. See that? That is a nervous laugh of relief at not having his eyeballs jammed with a huge beak, and ending with a slight bow of embarrassment over it all. I know him pretty good.

There were so many animals to see! In fact, Lazy 5 boasts having over 750 different species ‘n varieties ‘n crazies.

Now, I want you to notice something: how can you tell the diff between Veteran Visitors to the park and Newbies? Well, check this out:

NO FEAR. Yeah, these people have NO-THING between them and the animals. I’m sure they were looking at us and thinking that we were waaaaaaaay too uptight when we would roll up the windows as [larger] animals approached us and our yelps of fear! I looked at them and thought “Wow! Such…courage!” They were literally feeding the zebras from their HANDS. Yes, their bare hands. Just for the record, this is the one group of animals that the lady at the front desk said NOT to handfeed. She had said that we could buy buckets of feed and distribute them to most of the animals except a few…and ended with “But whatever you do, don’t feed the Zebras! I know for sure that they will bite you! Don’t do it!”

So, I loved watching these people interact with the giraffes and zebras. I lived vicariously through them as they petted the zebras and stroked their manes. Secretly, I wished that one of these people would do something random and crazy – like – suddenly jump on the back of one of the zebras and ride ‘em around the park, hoopin’ and hollerin’. Wouldn’t that be fun? I mean, if they didn’t bite you and all?

What else did I love? The buffalo. I don’t know why exactly, but I have always liked buffalo. I can remember being a little girl and my Mom and Dad taking our fam to go see some while we lived out in Oklahoma. I can also remember how hot it was and the burnt brown grass between my toes. Good times!

I also loved the long horned steer-cow-friend things. I think they are actually called Watusi cattle. Aren’t they so cool in the big huddle? And just what are they discussing, I wonder? What’s the big secret?

And in case you thought it was only the males who are the proud owners of those big, big horns, think again! A Daddy Long Horn Steer can’t do THIS:

Then we got out and walked around some to see the rest of the animals at the Ranch. There was this neat-O camel that seemed to love people. He freaked me out when he came right up to the fence and showed his teeth. Um….are you going to SPIT? Are you trying to scare us away? What the crap?!?

Corey wanted a pic of me with the dangerous camel. He thought it was funny that I was questioning the camel’s intentions, and I think that was payback for my records of his little Emu incident. Look at my face. I am freaked out but trying to smile through it. After we had been standing there for a few minutes, it finally dawned on me what this beast was up to! I wanted to see if my thoughts were right, so I grabbed a big handful of feed and threw it through the fence and straight into his open mouth. Chomp chomp chomp! YEP! He wanted me to feed him! We repeated that over and over again, and he was a happy camel. That was hilarious! Smart boy!

On somewhat of a sidenote, do you love this fence? I certainly do! It has that honest, rustic appeal that would go great with our farmhouse. Corey: you can SO build this. Go for it.

Now, I am no goat expert, but I do believe this Nanny is about to pop with two Kiddos. Don’t cha’ think?

And she wanted us to feed her – a LOT. Only an appetite that large can mean she’s feeding 3 right now instead of just 1. By the way, do you see her smiling at you in this pic? She is, I promise! Look close. She’s happy to get some more food is all. And she liked my shirt. Goats like shirts for dinner, I’ve heard.

The only kind of animals that I missed that I didn’t see were monkeys. I guess that’s okay, though, since we brought our own! Please don’t judge us on this one pic alone! I can totally recognize [yet adore] the imperfections of this picture. Our oldest doesn’t normally smile that way, but he was cheezin’ his way through these types of shot. And our youngest boy specifically told us “I really don’t like pictures!!” Gianna, age 3, however, DOES like having her picture made…and Sarie, age 1.5, usually does, too. She refuses to keep any sort of hair bow, clip or tie on her head and so now her hair is all in her eyes. It’s the perfect time for her to not see where she’s going and trip and fall down since her foot is coming out of her sandal! As we speak, I am currently trying to convince hubby that Sarie could use a little trim. We shall see! Anyway, all of our babies loved the drive through and next time, we will have to see about doing the wagon ride.

There were soooo many more animals that we got to run in fear from, and feed, and pet – but to share all of those pics would make this post extremely long. If it suits me, I just might have to make a second post. Maybe or maybe not. There are no promises, folks. However, let me leave you with this thought: if you are in the Charlotte, NC area and would love to drive through a Ranch to see all of these creatures, then definitely make the trip out. We all had a great time!