I am 30 years old TODAY!

I had a neat birthday today! All of it was so unexpected and this made it even more of a treat!

We went to starbucks, yum! And then we went GEOCACHING! I wanted to go in a direction we had never went and so we went north to Arkansas. We ended up in a little town and a cache led us to the sweetest little zoo that is FREE and is run on the kindness of donations from guests. They had animals I didn't expect like tigers, wolves, etc. They were closing when we arrived and the man found out we were cachers and how much Remy and I love the animals that he gave us a tour after hours!

Here I am putting the cache back!

We loved these guys! They were NOT shy!

Of course Remy had to tell our friend Melissa that he saw the tortoise couple mating! Hee hee! Melissa just loved it and said that is one of the reasons she adores him! He tells it like it is and has no idea that it is anything but just the truth!

The staff worker there today is an AG professor and also cares for the animals at the zoo. The zoo started in the 40's when a traveling circus broke down and to pay for the repairs they left a bear and some other animals. This was the start of it all! Almost every animal is a rescue animal. The tiger was from a grocery store that showed it in the parking lot, one monkey was raised as a woman's baby and ate with spoons and forks. He came to live there because his "mommy" died of cancer. He had a hard time learning to be a monkey. If you were there you would see that EVERY animal is a baby doll! They all come to see you! They all have a sparkle in their eye! They are well tended to and loved. It was such and odd experience to be so close to every creature and for them to want me there. They welcome you into the zoo, and they make it your experience. This is just one of those out of the way little gems you can't believe you stumbled on!

They have a petting zoo!

Big mama loves to eat peppermints!

The farm animals are there because after being shown the children who raised them and showed them could not stand to see them meet with a bloody end. And so they live out a sweet life in a sanctuary they were blessed to find themselves in. It did this vegetarian animal lover's heart good!

Here is one of the monkeys that found his way there.

The HIGHLIGHT of the day was when the staff worker told me to follow him because he had something to show me! He brought out this little fella!

And I was able to pet a baby LEMUR! Can you believe it???

I almost cried as I told him that he had forever made a memory for me. I will always think of my 30th birthday as the day I was able to love on a baby Lemur!

This was taken of me right after the blissful event!

I want to set up a homeschool group day for the zoo and he gave me the number to call and said they would love to have us! I can't wait!

We found one more cache before we headed home. It was on the state lines of Arkansas and Louisiana.

Thanks for a wonderful day boys. And God thankyou for the sweet gift you gave me in setting up this sweet day. You know I love to pet and speak with animals! And you knew that man would see that joy and offer us that sweet tour where he told us the names of each animal and the history of this sweet place. He didn't have to give us that after hours...yet he did! Thanks to the professor's time! You made my day!

My childhood friend Heather is coming to visit me this weekend! I can't wait!