Zootastic Park and Carowinds Winterfest

While poor Andrew was recuperating from his second shoulder surgery of the year, I took the kids out on the best adventure. For one of her Christmas gifts, Caroline got an animal interaction at Zootastic Park. We thought it was going to be with a baby llama, but when we called that morning to confirm, we found out that the llamas have outgrown the interactive experiences. Boo! We decided to go with a baby kinkajou instead.

Last time we came, C got to interact with a baby kangaroo. It was so fun. We were excited to meet the kinkajou and play with him!

Meet Cain!

He was so cute!

And SUPER soft!

I'm glad all three kids could be there this time.

Such a memorable experience.

When the worker heard that Caroline had originally

wanted to do the llama experience, he told her that

he'd let her in the llama area to feed them, too.

It was a little overwhelming!

Llamas and goats galore!

But I was glad she could try it.

They had her other favorite animal:  a sloth!

It was a chilly December day,

but we still had fun walking around the zoo. 

Black panther

Rare wild Whitney. :)

Cougar

Fierce lioness

Cool lion

It was cute to watch these lions rough-housing.

The bigger one has a deformity with its front paws.

These kangaroos were my favorite!

The gray one was SOOOO soft and cuddly.

Actually, I think this guy's a wallaby.

This giraffe was awesome, too.

We had bought these wafers to feed them.

The worker told us that if we put it in our mouth,

the giraffe would give us a big ol kiss.

Brandon and Caroline were the only ones

brave enough to try it!

Ha ha ha!

After that fun trip to Zootastic, we headed down to Charlotte,

I heard that Carowinds, the amusement park there,

is open during December for Winterfest.

Tickets were very affordable with our AAA discount.

Brandon and Whit had both been to Carowinds for

school field trips, Caroline and I hadn't been in years.

We had the best time!

So pretty!

We got to listen to a little acoustic guitar.

Not all of the rides are open, so we hurried to the one

big roller coaster that was running, the After Burn.

Caroline had no interest in riding in.

Whit wasn't so sure, either.

B and I hurried quickly up the stairs and

only had to wait for just a minute before getting on.

It's such a fun coaster!

When we got off, Whit decided she wanted to give it a try.

She and B got back in the super short line.

She loved it and tried to talk C into going,

but she wasn't up for it.

Instead, we ventured to other parts of the park.

B and W were excited to find the Snow Queen and King!

B bought himself a new phone with a FANCY camera.

I'm trying really hard not to covet it.

We got kicked out of this ride.

Turns out you can have a max of 3 in a car.

I didn't read the rules...

It's probably a good thing.

Care Bear would have gotten SQUISHED.

We liked that one of the horses on the carousel was named Wyatt.

Right before we left, Caroline decided she DID want to try the After Burn.

I wasn't sure what the line would be like, but we headed 

back that way. There was NO ONE in line. 

We hopped right in.

Turns out, Caroline LOVES roller coasters.

It's one of those things you don't know until you try!

We were able to just stay in our seats and ride over and over

FIVE TIMES in a row.

After that, I told the kids that I would probably get sick if we rode it again. Ha!

I'm SO happy we discovered Winterfest and totally want to come back next year.