ZooWorld

Happy Friday the 13th everybody! Here is another Zoo Review for our Zoo Readers! 

ZooWorld

Panama City Beach, Florida

Website

Hours: 9:30-5

Admission: $16.95

Date of Visit: March 2015

Highlights: Large variety of animals. Species from all over the world. Get to see the animals up close. Prairie Dog exhibit was epic and one of the best I have seen.

Disappointments: Almost every enclosure looked to small and you felt bad for the animals. It was sad at several of the cages, especially the Jaguars and Giraffes.

Additional Tips: If you do end up going, purchase the feeding experiences. I am not sure those animals get fed outside of those experiences and they are cool. Jr. loved feeding the camels.
The walked a timberwolf around the zoo for kids to pet just like it was a dog. I decided to pass on letting my kid pet it, because at the end of the day its a friggen wolf. They said it was safe, but that was just one of the sketch things about this place.

Pictures

Entrance Sign

Awesome White Lion Cub

Fun Feeding Experience, Not A Lot of Space For The Giraffes

A cat this majestic needs a bigger habit. Still cool to look at, but felt bad.

Awesome Mandrill that was fat and happy

Peacock

Jr.'s favorite part, the prairie dog tunnel

Serval

Funky Snake

Another Snake

We had a good time just hanging around

Turkey

Tiger

Final Rating:
This zoo was the hardest to rate out of any we had seen so far. The variety of animals should lend itself to a 5 rating. However, the exhibits have to knock it down some. That being said, the Reston Zoo got a 4.5 from us early and they had charges of animal cruelty brought against them (we didn't know about at the time). The species of animal at this zoo were about as cool as can be. There have never been any charges against them, but I still feel bad for the animals. We are unsure if we are willing to give them a second chance and unsure of the rating. It just is what it is at this place. It will appeal to many, but disgust many as well. It is an interesting phenomenon. This zoo will remain unrated due to the complexities involved with it.

-Noland

Passholders Again!!!

So, we haven't been posting as much as normal lately, but my schedule has finally been rearranged to get back at it. Jenna will be on more now too, since Eli is 10 Months old!!!!! The little stinker is growing and getting quite the little personality. One of the first things we did when he got to be past 6 months was to get our beloved Annual Passes at Disney World back!

These passes are well worth the money if you live in Florida and Disney does a great job at making affordable payment plans for us. We pay about $60 a month for passes for me, Jenna, and Noland Jr. Eli is free because he is under 3 and Noland Jr. was free last time we had passes. For these passes we decided to get the Silver Pass because lower tier passes now come with free parking!!!! This family does not really have a desire to go in the summer when it is miserably hot and way overcrowded or during Easter/Christmas weeks when it is overcrowded as well. There is plenty of time to enjoy Disney in between those times.

Disney is full of magic for our boys and we just love it. There is so much to do and all 4 parks are like different worlds for our kids. Noland Jr. is at the perfect age for Disney and it is his favorite place to go in the entire world. Eli Thomas has a surprising amount that he can do at the park, especially  since he is under 1. While that is not the ideal age for a Disney trip, he still loves it and he is free!

Here are some of our favorite memories so far with these passes this time around!!!

We caught a rare character and my favorite...Jiminy Cricket

 On the safari! My favorite ride!

 Eli liked It's a Small World with KJ on her birthday!

 My beautiful wife and baby b4 Buzz

 With some of our best friends at the Visa character Meet. Love how suspicious Eli is of Mickey in this photo!

 With my best boys on St. Patty's day @ Magic waiting for Buzz. So much green!

 Waiting for the Disney Jr. show!

 Eli's 1st character he ever met, Donald Duck! This is @ the Baja Beach Club Breakfast!

 2 Boys Smiling with the coolest Duck around!

 Easter Egg hunting at Epcot!

 Met Brer Fox @ Character Palooza!

Disney makes us all so happy!!!

Thanks for stopping in and reading up on our recent adventures. Stay tuned for much more news and pictures on Disney, more zoo reviews, and more fun tips and tricks. Next week, we will have a review posted up on Zoo World in Panama City, Florida. Come to Florida! This state is unbelievable!

-Noland

Brevard Zoo

We are back with another zoo review for our zoo lovers. Sorry for the long hiatus, but we will try to post weekly again! This one is for the wonderful Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Florida. Brevard is one of our favorite zoos and one of the premier attractions in all of Florida.

Brevard Zoo

Melbourne, FL

Website

Hours: 9:30-5

Admission: $16.95

Date of Visit: Feb. 2015

Highlights: So many highlights, but most of them come from the zoos African section. The meerkat exhibit and the cheetah exhibit are as cool as they come. They have my favorite animal (the rhino). They have an awesome giraffe feeding experience and they even have an anteater. This zoo also had incredibly well done themes and animals from every continent except for Antarctica. There are a lot more highlights than this.

Disappointments: Not a lot of disappointments other than our kids being too little to do the extra experiences like kayaking past Rhinos! How cool must that be? I guess the Europe, Asia, Australia section could be a little bigger.

Additional Tips: Go and have fun at this zoo. This zoo has the best concession stand I have seen at a zoo, but everything is made to order there. Arrive at the stand by 11am and eat an early lunch. :)

Pictures!!!

Our team leader was excited to tell us animals to see first!

Anteater

Bald Eagle

Giraffe

Cheetah

Black Swan

Condor

Cool Bird I had never seen before called a Crested Caracara.

Emu Egg

Kangaroos and an Emu

Foxes

Cool Bird

Cool Feeding Experience that this zoo and Lowry Park do.

One of our favorite Rhino exhibits!

The highlight of this trip was this meerkat experience. They had an underground tunnel system for the kids to experience the exhibit. Those pictures didn't turn out well, but it was probably the coolest exhibit I have seen so far at a zoo. The meerkats could travel in tunnels right over the kids heads. So cool!

Final Rating: 

5/5 Elephants

This zoo is one of the best in the state and possibly the country. The meerkat exhibit and the cheetah exhibits are the best of their kind. This zoo would be even better with the special experience add-ons that we didn't get to do. It is so great that we took another track across state recently for a 2nd trip. This zoo comes highly recommended by the Robinsons.

-Noland

Why We Write

As we have written very rarely lately it seems a good time to evaluate what the purpose is for our writing at all. With the boys getting up earlier it becomes harder and harder to find the time. Who has the time anyways to write much at all if we are not getting paid? There has to be a means to this writing doesn't there?

There is a means to this writing. There will always be. Writing for me and for us is therapeutic and we like sharing our thoughts while exercising our minds.

That is what writing is for me. It is an exercise of the mind. When I research and/or write about something it helps me get prepared for what the day has ahead. It makes my mind fresh. Writing not only helps organize my thoughts, but provides that mental obstacle course to enhance them. This practice helps me to be able to be more informed about the world and hopefully enhance it.

When my mind is fresh from writing it is fresh for everything else. It helps me to plan out my morning and my day. My mind is able to stay fresh for the many kids at home and at school that I interact with on a daily basis. Most of all my mind being fresh helps me to evaluate life.

By being able to evaluate life I am able to notice what is really important. I am able to notice how to prioritize. What really matters becomes all the more clear. Also coming clear is why it matters and what to do about it.

Writing isn't, never was, and never will be about money for me or about being right (although I typically am IMO). It is about, why we should do what we do and how to do it better. It is about trying to get better mentally so you can be a better person. Writing will always be about that.

Life doesn't stop to give us the chance to write. It doesn't stop to give us that chance to smell the roses. However, it is important that we do those things that help us grow as people. Those things that stretch our minds. For me that thing is writing. Even if my son wakes up right when I get my computer out and I have to skip a day. For my wife it has been about this lettering she has gotten really good at. You can follow her on instagram to see more about that....For my older son it has been about learning from us and playing with us. For my younger one it has been soaking in what his older brother is doing. Isn't all of this great and what life really is about.

So whenever my next post is, know that it is filled with this sentiment and this intention. To better myself and maybe get others thinking as well. Enjoy this post and each other and have a fantastic week!

-Noland

2015 Disney Character Rankings (80-1)

We are once again back fans of the blog! Sorry it took us so long. With Eli's baptism and Noland Jr.'s 3rd birthday, we fell a little behind on writing. However, have no worries because we are back to it now!!! We also have some updates from his birthday coming next week along with some zoo reviews in the near future!
This is the 4th and last portion of the Disney Character Countdown for our Disney loving family. I decided to just include all of the characters and a link to their bios in this piece. I did that because we are running out of 2015 dates and I wanted everyone to see how the characters rankings changed. Feel free to comment to get a rationale for the rankings! Our previous countdowns are preview, 102-91, 90-81. Now, enjoy the rest of our countdown contained here...

80. Brer Fox (77)

79. Brer Rabbit (69)

78. Timothy Q. Mouse (73)

77. Marie (80)

76. Kanga (99)

75. Bruce (75)

74. Terk (74)

73. Sven (90)

72. Remy (66)

71. Oswald

70. Owl (86)

69. Slink (68)

68. Abu (71)

67. Wreck-It Ralph

64-66. Huey, Duey, and Luey (33-35)

63. Bullseye (60)

62. Magic Carpet (89)

61. Zurg (55)

60. White Rabbit (72)

59. Lady (63)

58. The Tramp (62)

57. Pascal (48)

56. Perry the Platypus (53)

55. Squirt (50)

54. Jessie (49)

53. Kaa (46)

52. Mushu (45)

51. Tick Tock Croc

50. Thumper (44)

49. Mufasa (39)

48. Scuttle (37)

47. Rabbit (54)

46. Bagheera (41)

45. Bambi (43)

44. Marlin (40)

43. Roo (32)

42. Flounder (20)

41. Shere Khan (38)

40. Nala (42)

39. Lightning McQueen (81)

38. King Louie (26)

37. Mike Wazowski (31)

36. James P. Sullivan (29)

35. Pete (52)

34. Rex (51)

33. Crush (24)

32. Stitch (30)

31. Genie

30. Ursula

29. Dory (19)

28. Olaf (22)

27. Lumiere

26. Baloo (8)

25. Scar (25)

24. Nemo (23)

23. Sebastian (16)

22. Eeyore (21)

21. Jiminy Cricket (14)

20. Rafiki (18)

19. Dumbo (15)

18. Beast

16, 17. Timon & Pumba (9,10)

15. Piglet (7)

14. Simba (11)

13. Woody (13)

12. Buzz Lightyear (12)

11. Pluto (36)

9, 10. Chip & Dale (30, 31)

08. Daisy Duck (17)

07. Tigger (5)

06. Tinkerbell

05. Winnie the Pooh (2)

04. Goofy (6)

03. Minnie Mouse (4)

02. Donald Duck (3)

01. Mickey Mouse (1)    

                                     

-Noland