Escape to Georgia

At the start of residency, Devin requested to be off for the weekend of the Fall Festival in Watkinsville, GA and was given the whole week off!  It was amazing to have a little escape from our busy lives and Devin's very busy work schedule.

We considered caching a couple days back in, but decided to make a week out of it when we realized we could see Devin's Grandmother if we did.  We enjoyed the first couple days with her, and she enjoyed time with Calvin, Blue, and Moose.

We tried out a really neat, new playground with Grandmother and Devin's mom.  I was pretty excited to have someone there to take photos of the three of us together!

Seriously, it can be sooo challenging to get a candid family picture!

We planned a trip to the Georgia Aquarium during our visit.  Calvin loves to point out "glub glubs" in books and such, so we thought he'd enjoy this a lot.  And, while he did think the fish were pretty exciting, the best part was by far walking up and down steps...over and over and over again.

Devin has a history with a giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium.  He wanted to make sure Calvin was acquainted with them as well.

One of our very favorite places to eat in Athens is Cali-N-Titos.  They have lots of old school playground equipment around their outdoor seating.  This was our first trip there where Calvin was old enough to play on it!

When the weekend arrived, we were pretty excited about the fall festival.  This was of course the reason we scheduled a trip for this week.  Our very favorite part was the "Agriculture Education Center."  There were a lot of animals, a live milking demonstration, a corn pit, and information booths.  Calvin gladly played in the corn while we enjoyed funnel cake and pulled pork sandwiches.  He probably would have stayed in the pit all day if we'd let him.

Calvin has mastered the art of authentic sounding oinks.  He was pretty excited to see the pigs as a result.  He also neighed at the horses, baaa-ed at the sheep, and moo-ed at the cows.

At the end of the visit, we rode a hayride back to our cars.  Our driver was kind enough to let Calvin try out the tractor.  This little boy was so excited to have his hands on such a big steering wheel!

Other highlights of the week included a couple dates, Devin and I running together after dark, and lots of other favorite foods.  We can't wait for the next trip back!

Tiger World

Tiger World is by far one of the best little gems we've found since moving to North Carolina!  We decided to check it out when my sister Jess and her boyfriend Tom came to visit for the weekend.  It's an amazing exotic animal rescue center that makes a perfect little zoo for Calvin.  They started out saving tigers, branched out to other wild cats, and now have bears, wolves, wild dogs, kangaroos, primates, parrots, and various reptiles.  We didn't even make it to the ticket counter before seeing the first tigers and Calvin practicing his roar.

The tigers were absolutely beautiful.  We were there in the morning shortly before their scheduled feeding time, so they were all very active and vocal.  It was SO much fun to see!

White tigers are apparently very rare but Tiger World has seven (or more?) of them!  They also have a liger with with the giant gene (so he is HUGE) as well as a large ti-liger.  This white tiger was paired with the two of them.  They had had a large enclosure but had to be separated to eat, unlike the other pairs, because of safety concerns for all of them.

Once they started feeding the animals, we followed the truck to see it all.  The caretakers explained their diets, fasting schedules, and eating habits along with giving us lots of background information on all the animals.  I loved watching the tigers eat.  The whole chickens were exciting to see, but the tiger growling at us while defending a deer leg was absolutely stunning!

We were pretty excited to find a tiger named Calvin while we were there.  My Calvin was wearing his favorite shirt with a tiger and carrying his Hobbes, so it made taking a picture with the sign even better!

Of course, one of the best parts of the whole experience was that I got to spend time with Jess!  I don't get nearly enough sister time these days, so the weekend felt far too short but wonderful.  And, Calvin absolutely loved having her here...there's nothing quite like getting spoiled by an aunt!