The golf community where we are currently visiting is comprised mostly of an older clientele. The children are having a grand ole time living this life of leisure amongst their older peers but there are also dangers that lurk beyond the facade.
We have near misses daily while driving our golf cart. It is not the children who are recklessly driving at top speed but actually the adults who are having a ball out there and we thought Miami drivers were bad! Actually, Axel and Brevitt have become quite adept at steering. Axel is learning to acknowledge that there are other people in this world other than he and his family and that he must look out for them or he could be in perilous danger.
The pros of this place far outweigh the cons. They are quickly learning that respect brings tiny rewards. They hold doors open for people and look them in the eye while shaking their hands good morning. I’m all for them learning manners regardless of the morsels placed in front of their little noses to tempt them into being gentleman.
Speaking of gifts, I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth but what is up with the abundance of over trained wait staff who hover over us like vultures as we eat in the community dining room? There is no question that we keep them on their toes with all of our spills and perhaps this explains why we have more staff surrounding us then the other tables but we are not helpless and perfectly capable of cleaning up after ourselves. I have to stifle my urge to do naughty things like throw food at the kids or burp loudly under their stares.
After a few near misses in the golf cart and another stare down at breakfast we drove to experience Lion Country Safari. I have always wanted to take the kids to Africa and driving through the Serengeti in Florida is a little like going to Vail, Colorado to get the fake Swiss experience but we must take what we can get.
Before we left, the kids visited all of their sought out free sugar havens on the premises. They downed their forbidden cokes from the free soda machine and got into the car. Big mistake. In the 38 minutes that it took to drive to LCS they each must have peed at least three times. Brevitt was so sugared up and did not stop talking in gibberish and fidgeting the entire drive. I told him that only he would be allowed to open his window while we drove through the lion section. Astonished he asked if that was safe and I told him that was precisely my point!
While listening to the informative Safari CD we got slightly ahead of the information and pulled up directly next to the white rhinos. We were admiring their huge horns and commenting on how we had never been so close to a rhino before when we heard the narrator telling us not to ever pull up the car next to a rhino due to their dangerously playful ways. Whoops! Once again I felt like Chevy Chase in the movie “Family Vacation”.
We were thankful that the park was not full of busloads of people and we stayed until closing hours. We fed the giraffes crackers in the early evening light and admired the beautiful, graceful animals with big beautiful eyes. Axel thought that they looked sad and wanted to save them all and put them back in the wild. He also wanted me to yell at the people who were carving their names into the bamboo trees. I told him that I have learned that there are better ways to teach people to respect their planet and causing aggression is not one of them.
At the end the boys found the water park and had a blast getting sopping wet in their clothes. We rode home and made just as many pit stops along the way but this time they were naked as their wet shorts dried in the back. We were worried that we would get pulled over for indecent exposure but thankfully made it back without incident.
While not the same as being with you, it is marvelous to enjoy your experiences via your blog. Your colorful descriptions of the boys’ antics transport them to me. Thank you for another treasured read. Love you!
Looks like a great time – we love feeding the giraffes too!
Stopping by via MBC’s FYFM…LOVE the pictures – and it sounds like you had a wonderful time!