April 2016 – Casa de Murphy

We took a trip to the Central Florida Zoo on a Sunday afternoon just the other weekend, and it was so much fun checking out all the animal friends! This was our 1st visit to this particular zoo, and honestly, the 1st time Liam was feeling like he was going to the zoo, as he doesn’t really remember our previous trip to the Brevard Zoo a while back. Crazy as it seems, that trip was just about 3 years ago….so yeah, I guess little man really wouldn’t remember it at this age. 🙂

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Checking out the river otters….they were so fast, it was hard to snap a pic! Definitely love to swim & play around, though. It was really cute.

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Liam is really into butterfly’s right now, and there was a butterfly garden next to the giraffes. He loved that he could stand amidst the flowers and the butterfly’s were all around him.

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Giraffes! Gotta admit that I was kinda disappointed with this set up compared to Brevard. It was hard to see them with the fence 😦

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Rhinos! Liam said after we got home that these were his favorite animals that he saw there. When we got up to them, they were wrestling (playing?) over the mud pit area ….lol! We stood here & watched them for a bit.

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Leopards!

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Camel!

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Cougar! …this guy was kinda fiesty ….It was dinner time & he was looking for his food to come. Same with the camel above. He could care less about us walking by….he was eyeing the staff bring his food over 🙂

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This turtle was huge!! We love these guys so were excited to say hi to him. P.S. — there is a reptile exhibit house that we checked out & Liam was very into. This mama just couldn’t bring herself to take any pics of it…lol!

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Checking out the bald eagle….

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We took a little spin on the train they have at the front of the zoo. It chugs along through the front of the property. Very enjoyable!

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Family selfie on the train.

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We had a great afternoon at the zoo, and the weather was gorgeous! I love little trips like this because it’s both educational for our wee-man and an adventure. Definitely a win-win! On our list still is to take him to the Jacksonville Zoo and the Lowry Park Zoo.

We also have passes here at the Central Florida Zoo for a few more months, and they have a pretty cool splash pad for the kiddos….so, we’ll definitely be back again, as the temps are already heating back up 🙂

Until next time, friends!

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Somehow, it’s been almost 2 months since I posted an update. Seriously?!?! — Definitely not from lack of activity around here. In fact, quite the opposite. Life gets busy and blogging gets put in the back seat sometimes. So much fun to catch up on, though!

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At the end of February, we spent the afternoon at the Crayola Experience Orlando. This was our 1st time visiting this attraction, and it was such a neat experience to be surrounded by all things Crayola!

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Right from walking in the door, you could tell this was going to be fun for the whole family. I loved the gigantic markers & crayons that decorated the entrance. Liam thought it was the greatest, too! 🙂

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There are over 25 activities to do throughout the attraction and it’s spread across two floors. Of course, you also can’t forget to visit the Crayola Store on your way out. As pictured above, there are rows & rows of every shade of crayon AND marker you can imagine. We all were in heaven! ….We filled up a tin with all our favs ❤

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One of the cool things you can do there is the Crayon Factory, where you can name your own shade of crayon. Liam’s favorite is green, so we did two different greens — ‘Hulk Smash Liam’ and ‘Boo Boo Man Green’ (nick-name of our fur baby).

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Have you ever seen this many crayons in one place?!?!

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The ‘Melt & Mold’ and ‘Drip Art’ activities were very engaging & you were able to choose your crayon colors for each station. We did those a few times. While the place did fill up after we were there for a bit, I loved that you could do each activity as many times as you wanted & the wait time wasn’t all that bad for any of the activities.

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I think we probably spent the most time here at the ‘Stomp & Play’ ….the images on the ground moved when you stomped on them. Liam had a ball with it!

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This, however, was Liam’s favorite part of the whole experience — The Crayon Factory. It was a live theater show starring a crayonologist, and he showed us how they make the crayons at the big factory & prepare them for shipment. It was so cool because he used the machines on stage and actually made some red crayons right in front of us…and, we got to take one with us on the way out!

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It was a great afternoon at the Crayola Experience! I like the mix of fun and education for the kiddos. We will definitely be back soon!

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Special thanks to my fellow blogger friend, Tracy, at Around Mount Dora for sharing her comp tickets from the FL Blogger Conference! So grateful for a day of fun with the family! Note: All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Until next time, friends!

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