Gator Land

Last weekend was Tyler's weekend with us, so we decided to take advantage of living in Central Florida and drove over to Gator Land. We had a great time! We fed the gators hot dogs, got chased by enormous birds, watched as DJ had to go up in front of the crowd to hold a "mysterious creature" (Tyler volunteered him), took a nature walk through the everglades, learned how to wrestle a 6-7 foot reptile, tried to coach a very sick blue and gold macaw into NOT waving his left wing repeatedly, talked to a black bear named Judy, avoided getting spit at by a lama (that I'm NOT convinced was a lama, Tyler), competed in an alligator jumping contest (THEY were jumping...for raw chicken), and relaxed on a mini train ride. I would recommend it for a nice, fun-filled family day.

And now the goods...the pictures.

Eye see you.

Are YOU my lunch?

Eat more chicken.

One of the many mean birds that tried to intimidate/attack us.

Alligators like to snuggle.

In SERIOUS need of a manicure...

Tyler is feeding this alligator an animal cracker. (He said he liked it, but then again, he didn't really know for sure if it was the cracker or the finger that tasted so good.)

Right now, DJ's wondering... "How many of us is it going to take to hold this thing?!?"

And his next thought was... "I'm so glad I got to stand in the middle."

Here he's thinking... "Tyler, I'm going to strangle you for volunteering me."

This is the gator wrestler pulling the innocent juvenile up onto the sand bar. Weight = 250 lbs.

I"m not sure if he's smiling or crying.

This was the everglades nature walk.

This bird stayed on this alligator for a long time. Then the alligator realized it and told the bird to get off. So the bird went to the alligator's neighbor and set up camp there.

"Is that alligator sitting on a turtle or a rock?"

A turtle.

"My brother says you're comfortable."