For my birthday I decided I wanted to visit the Endangered Ark Foundation. They have cabins you can stay in and an elephant will deliver your breakfast to the cabin. We booked it all and then Ty got a call that the system had made an error and allowed me and someone else to book it at the same time. They offered us the following day. Ty told them it wouldn't be on my birthday and that was why we were going so they offered to refund us the entire amount if we went the following day! That was a definite yes, haha! On my actual birthday I got up early to ride 35 miles. I ended up adding too much on an out and back for 37 miles. It wasn't until days later that I realized I'd ridden 37 miles on my 37th birthday! We went out to brunch at Bramble which ended up being a major disappointment on the food front, but they had a mimosa flight which I thoroughly enjoyed! We kept with my birthday tradition of going to the local bookstore and the kids and I each picked out 2 books. Then the day ended with lots of reading!
Tesla's face cracked me up so much!
Ready for brunch!
A sweet card Elise made for me as I was out on my bike.
The kids at brunch.
My mimosa flight.
Check in at our cabin was 6pm the next day. We got there a little bit early and were able to check in before 6. We put in our orders for breakfast and then drove down to our cabin. There was a special birthday sign out on the porch and when we went inside there was a stuffed animal elephant with a birthday balloon tied to it. At check in she told us there were bananas in our cabin for us to feed to the elephant at breakfast. There were 3 bunches, we were so excited! The elephants were out on the grounds there until 7:30pm so after checking out our cabin, we headed down to watch the elephants. We met Bunny who was 65 years old and saw Wimpy and I forget the other elephant's name. I stayed down watching them until they went back to the barn. Ty and Elise went back earlier and then I walked Carter back and went back down to hang out for a bit longer alone. The couple in the cabin next to ours was up there too and we started chatting. The woman said she would go back to India to visit and when she was a kid there were so many elephants and there aren't nearly as many anymore. She said people would grow up with elephants and there would be a 60 year old man with a 60 year old elephant. They would go grey together and get cataracts together. I never thought about elephants going grey! That was interesting to learn! In our cabin there was an elephant footprint hanging above our bed which was so cool! The kids loved the bunk beds in their room.
The elephant footprint above the bed.
This is Bunny.
Monday morning I woke up and everyone else was still asleep so I got up and started getting ready to run. Carter woke up and asked me to go on a walk with him. He and I walked up to the entrance and then back to our cabin which ended up being almost a mile. When we got back Ty and Elise were still asleep so I told Carter he could have his tablet for a bit and then I headed out for a run. I showered when I got back and then we went outside to wait for the elephant to arrive. Our scheduled breakfast time was 9:15 and I knew the cabin before us was scheduled for 9:00 so we went out before 9 to wait. We were so excited watching her walk to the cabin. She held a birthday sign for me as she walked up to the cabin and then traded that out for a picnic basket which she handed to me. We took turns feeding her the bananas which we broke in half because they recommended doing that so they would last longer.
At the end they gave me a birthday cake and I got to feed that to her as well. I thought she might smash the cupcake when she took it in her trunk, but she didn't. I was so amazed! Ty heated up all our breakfast stuff and we sat on the porch to watch Delrita bring breakfast to the cabin after ours. They had 2 watermelons and a cantaloupe that they brought for her. When they gave her the watermelons, she dropped them on the ground and stomped them to break them into smaller pieces before eating them. The cantaloupe she ate all in one bite. It was so much fun to watch.
The picnic basket with our breakfast.
We checked out at 10am and the Endangered Ark Foundation side opened at 10am. We went over there after checking out of our cabin to see the other elephants. They had a gift shop and we checked it out. We got an elephant footprint to hang in our bedroom at home. Elise and I each picked out shirts an elephant had blown paint on. We wore them together the following day. It was an incredible birthday! The kids asked if it was my best birthday ever and I said it would be hard to beat the birthday when I felt Carter kick for the first time, but this was definitely a top birthday!
No comments:
Post a Comment