The kids first ropes course!

Aunt Elena and cousin Alecs took us to the Tallahassee Museum, which is really more of an wild animal sanctuary and adventure center. Metal dinosaur sculptures made from scrap car parts are found all around the park.

First we walked the trails to see the bald eagles, bear, wolves and otters and this cute cross-eyed opossum.

The trail goes right over the water where the cypress trees grow. The water is so perfectly still that it provides
a mirror image that makes it hard to distinguish between where the tree ends and the water begins. 

 There are a few different ropes courses that run all thru out the park. It's neat to see people ziplining right by as you walk the trails.

The kids wanted to do the ropes course which fortunately has a 39" height requirement, because that is Journey's exact height! They were all excited until it was time to don harnesses, and that's when Journey changed her mind. I asked that she at least put on the harness for a photo and she agreed. We all walked to the course and watched Alecs and Asher receive instruction on how to clip and unclip at each new obstacle, making sure that the two clips were clipped in an opposite direction every time. This was the point where I thought, "oh no, they are not going to be able to do all of this by themselves!", as we were only to watch them from the ground and just talk them thru things. About 10 minutes in, Journey spoke up and said she was ready to do it. I clipped her in and she was off, having watched and learned from the other two. {This reminded me of when she learned to walk. She watched Asher and waited six more months to do it herself, but once she started, she had it and was soon running.}

The course took them 12 feet in the air at points, and ended with a 40ft zipline. They were so brave and so strong. There was one part when Journey's clips were hung up against the line, she became scared and started to cry, but just then her clips came loose. She shook it off and kept going. They all did amazing! While Asher and Alecs ran immediately back to the beginning to start over, Journey decided that she had fun, but was not interested in going back for seconds.

We played at the playground, visited the barnyard animals and explored the historical caboose.

It was a FANTASTIC day!