Lions and Tigers and Anna...oh my

By K.J. Cardinal

Saturday was Christmas in September for the Cardinal Family as Uncle Matt took us all to York's Wild Kingdom in York, Maine.

Despite a forecast that called for rain, the weather was actually great and it was so much fun to spend the day with Uncle Matt, Meme, Tiff and Pete and, of course, all the kiddies...particularly Andrew.

Andrew has a love affair with animals, zoos and petting zoos, so I knew we were all in for a treat...and he didn't disappoint.

When you first walk in to YWK there is an area where there are ducks that you can feed. I swear that we could've spent the entire day there just watching Andrew feed the ducks and we all would have been perfectly content, but there was a lot more to the "Wild Kingdom", so there was plenty to explore.

My favorite part of the day was when we went to feed and pet the goats. Andrew was so funny to watch. From about three to four feet away, he LOVED the goats. He would smile and point and laugh and then as they would get closer and closer to him, you'd see that he would start to get a little more nervous each step they took...but he'd still have a little wry smile on his face. When Tiff was holding his hand, she said that she could actually feel Andrew shaking a little. It was so cute.

What I wasn't really expecting though was how much Anna loved the goats too. Not having a care in the world, Anna was all smiles as the goats would come right up to us. I'm sure when we go next year that Anna will have the same excited, yet nervous, reaction like Andrew, but she doesn't know any better right now, so she was unphased by it all.

Natalie was definitely too young to really enjoy the zoo, but I just have to say that she has turned into the best little girl. It's not like she was ever a bad baby or anything, but it's just so great to see how laid back and relaxed she is. I think that Andrew and Anna are two of the best behaved and happy go-lucky kids that I've ever seen, but on Saturday Natalie was actually the best behaved out of all of them...plus she's just so damn pretty.

While the goats were the best part of the day, a close second had to be lunch. At YWK they have a nice picnic area where you can bring your own food and bring our own food we did. Matt went shopping before hand and had quite the smorgasbord spread for lunch. Everything from chicken salad and Cherry Coke to Sun Chips and oatmeal raisin cookies. It was awesome...and definitely a great surprise.

So as you can tell, it was a great day. Thanks so much Uncle Matt for the Christmas present and we can't wait to do it again next year.